The Chelsea camp will now be digesting an extremely poor defeat away to Manchester United in the Premier League. Like always, there were positives and negatives to take away from the match.
Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Man Utd at Old Trafford on Saturday, which follows up their midweek loss against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro scored crucial first-half goals for the hosts before Trevoh Chalobah’s consolation in the second period. However, the contest was largely centred around ill-discipline.
Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was sent off inside five minutes to set the tone for a miserable evening. Even though Casemiro was sent off for Man Utd before half-time to make it 10v10, they already had a two-goal advantage at that moment.
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Winners
Despite the fact that Chelsea endured a horrid evening in Manchester, there are two players who perhaps come out of the weekend as individual winners.
Reece James: Unlike most of his Chelsea teammates, Reece James can hold his head up high following his performance against Man Utd.
It wasn’t a faultless display from the Blues captain. However, he showed the sort of quality and composure on the ball that was lacking from most of those around him.
| Minutes played | Assists | Accurate passes | Chances created | Error led to goal | Tackles | Match rating |
| 90 | 1 | 38/47 (81%) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7.2 |
Chelsea supporters raved about James for his contribution on Saturday, where he underlined why his best position on the pitch is still as an overlapping right-back.
Filip Jorgensen: The reality is that Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen now has a surprise opportunity to try and regain the starting position.
Last season, Jorgensen fluffed his lines when he got a few chances to start in the Premier League, so can he step up this time around? It looks like a massive game for him next Saturday when the Blues host Brighton in their next league fixture.
Losers
On the flip side, there were certainly a lot more losers in the Chelsea camp from the crushing loss at Old Trafford, where they put in probably their poorest team performance of the season so far.
Robert Sanchez: Of course, Robert Sanchez had a day to forget as he collected the first red card of his Chelsea career.
It is a case of one step forward and two steps back for the goalkeeper, who’s always going to have a major mistake in his game. We’re wondering if he can ever win the trust of the fanbase moving forward.
Earlier this month, Roberto Di Matteo defended Sanchez from the criticism that he always faces. It is becoming increasingly harder to fight his corner, though.
Enzo Maresca: Unfortunately, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca must take some blame following his side’s display and result against Man Utd. He’s got a lot of things right during his first 14 months in the club’s dugout, but the weekend’s contest spiralled out of control.
It felt like the Italian boss made some strange tactical decisions during the match, particularly with the substitutions he made. For instance, Maresca immediately went to a back five without time to think after his team went down to 10 men. He left some
Cole Palmer: The worrying news for Chelsea supporters is that Cole Palmer came off in the 21st-minute against Man Utd.
Palmer spoke with Maresca on the sidelines before his early substitution. It’s since been confirmed by the head coach that the player continues to suffer with a groin problem, which has already forced him to miss some matches this season.
If Palmer misses any more football, Chelsea could be in real trouble without their talisman in the final third.
Marc Guiu: While it was odd to see Maresca leave some high-profile attackers on the bench against Man Utd, Marc Guiu is the individual who should be most alarmed.
Chelsea wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens remained unused substitutes at Old Trafford. Let’s not forget that both Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian were sacrificed when the visitors went down to 10 men, though.
The most alarming thing is that Guiu, who’s a natural centre-forward, watched from the bench in the second half Tyrique George picked ahead of him to play. Yet again, the young striker must be thinking why did the club decide to recall him from his loan spell at Sunderland this summer.
Even though reports claim that Maresca admires Guiu’s attributes, he’s not showing any faith in him.
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