I know I’m not a man of many words (if you know me) but it’s not often (if at all) that I have no words.
What did we just witness?!
How did that game end up with that scoreline?
Ri. Dic. U. Lous.
How Chelsea even got 2 goals inside 20 minutes was crazy as well because it was United who started off the better and actually played the better football.
In fact, as stupid as this might sound, we played better in those first 20 minutes despite being 2–0 down than we did all game at Brentford where we actually went 1–0 up.
But in keeping with our last trip to West London (and several other games this season), we cannot keep our concentration.
We cannot keep a lead, we cannot hold on and we are masters of our own downfall.
If ever there was an art of how to find a way to lose a game, we would be the absolute experts, wizards, virtuosos, maestros, hell, all of them.
The side gave up 2 silly goals that really ought to have been prevented. A poor giveaway by Kobbie Mainoo before Malo Gusto gets the ball down our right. Why nobody was tracking him back is the question.
His deflected cross made its way to the edge of the box before a saveable shot by Conor Gallagher went through the legs of Casemiro and through Andre Onana.
A calamity of errors.
Antony actually did pretty well to track Marc Cucurella back but undid all that hard work by sticking a foot in from the wrong side resulting in a penalty.
However, that penalty was pretty soft and should’ve been reversed. Not for the first time in this match.
Cole Palmer steps up. Cold Palmer scores.
2–0, 19 minutes in. 2 goals conceded in a 15 minute period, again.
United were still the better side playing the better football and eventually got a break of their own.
£100m man Moises Caicedo played a wonderful assist to Alejandro Garnacho who did the rest. A great run followed by a great finish and MUFC were back in the game.
That was followed by even more great football which saw ten Hag’s team move the ball from back to front in a smooth motion. A brilliant cross then came in from Diogo Dalot before captain Bruno Fernandes scored the header.
Both captains on the scoresheet and the game is level again.
That seemed a little drama-less compared to what was to come.
The second half picked up from where the first left off.
Very chaotic football as it was end-to-end with neither side being able to hold onto the ball for more than a few passes. This period truly showed just how far off it these two teams really are.
However, there was one moment of brilliance as Antony redeemed himself as he played a beautiful one-time cross with the outside of his foot to Garnacho before he headed in for his second and United’s 3rd.
2–3, 67 minutes. Erik ten Hag looking happy. Mauricio Pochettino, not so much.
That was far from the end of it though.
As the game was drifting on, changes were being made. United shuffled the pack whereas the Blues were bringing on their plethora of attackers in the hopes of getting something from this quite entertaining game, for the neutral at least.
Those moves proved to be correct as in the end…
Chelsea were attacking down our left before another take down in their box, this time Dalot was the culprit. Two players in Antony and Dalot who were having decent games with stupid decisions.
Much like the first penalty though, this was also very soft. So soft that VAR had a lengthy intervention that saw the 8 minutes added become even longer.
The penalty stood and Palmer did what he does.
3–3 in the 100th minute.
Surely this was the end, right?
Well, as I mentioned earlier, this was an absolute footballing lesson in how to lose a game.
And so we displayed that.
For some reason, Dalot decided it was a good idea to attack Chelsea in the dying minutes to try and get a late, late winner but that came back to bite him and all of us, in the arse.
The home side got a corner from their resulting counter-attack which tbh, they should’ve made more from prior to that corner anyway.
Nevertheless, no harm, no foul as they took a quick, short corner to that man once again, Cole Palmer.
On the edge of our box, last minute of the game, he’s on a hat-trick, what do we decide to do?
FUCK ALL!
We literally did nothing as the former City player had time and space inside the box in the last minute to not only take a touch, but also set it on his strong left foot and unleash his strike. And even that wasn’t a smooth goal as it relied on a deflection from substitute Scott McTominay to go past Onana who probably would’ve had a straightforward save.
Although with him, you never know.
Palmer hat-trick. And so the game ended.
But the talking points have just began.
And I just want to mention a word on the referee. SHIT!
Erik ten Hag truly has got 99 problems.
He lost two more centre-backs as Rapha Varane and his substitute Jonny Evans both had to come off. That means that the only available centre-backs are Harry Maguire and youngster Willy Kambwala 😐.
We have Liverpool next 🙃.
What would be frustrating for the manager is that his team actually performed relatively well for the most part. The goals we conceded is an area to look at but the biggest issues he (and almost all United managers post Sir Alex) will face, is the concentration and mentality of these players.
They have none.
Game management lacks, players can’t hold onto a lead, make stupid inexplicable mistakes, don’t give it everything. The manager may not be good enough but boy, you really have to look at these players.
Absolutely pathetic.
The only thing I’d criticize ten Hag for is taking Rasmus Hojlund off for Marcus Rashford. Not too sure why he did that.
Ratings:
Onana — 5
AWB — 5
Varane — 6
Maguire — 7
Dalot — 4
Casemiro — 5
Mainoo — 5
Antony — 6.5
Bruno — 5
Garnacho — 7 MOTM
Hojlund — 5
Evans — …
Rashford — 4
Kambwala — 6
McTominay — 6
Mount — 6
Erik ten Hag — 6
Final Thoughts
Other than call the season off, I have none.
Background image: Image credit: Getty Images via Eurosport