Man Utd claim their first league win at Stamford Bridge in 10 years with a 3-2 victory which barely tells any of the story.
This was a game with two early goals which altered the dynamic of the game followed by a rousing comeback and ending with a number of controversial decisions by the match officials.
The key point from a tactical perspective was Man Utd’s exploitation of the weakness in the Chelsea set up with poor cover for the full backs. This aided the creation of both goals and led to other chances being created by Man Utd.
Line Ups
With Lampard not fit for selection, Di Matteo had a relatively straightforward job naming his starting line up:-
Chelsea lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation. The attacking trio of Hazard, Mata and Oscar offer tremendous creativity behind the lone striker of Fernando Torres but questions have been asked about their ability to fulfill their defensive duties.
The temptation to continue with the midfield diamond was resisted and Man Utd named what appeared to be a 4-4-2 formation. In the attacking phase, Young and Rooney pushed on before dropping back and becoming a 4-1-4-1 in the defensive phase.
The two early goals for Man Utd occurred before there was any time to assess how both teams were shaping up. The result was a highly entertaining game with a mix of technical ability and defensive errors.
This was a game which can be divided into three 30 minute periods.
0-30 Minutes – Man Utd Take Control
Although the game was still settling down in the opening few minutes, Man Utd were content to drop off Chelsea when Luiz or Cahill had possession but press as the ball approached the halfway line.
After 3 minutes, Man Utd scored the opening goal. A forward pass towards Mata was intercepted by Ferdinand allowing the nearby Rooney to collect the ball and turn and pass to Young who was centrally positioned in the middle of the Chelsea half and in space.
As can be seen in the graphic below, the centre back pairing of Cahill and Luiz had split wide open. A Chelsea player, most probably Mikel, should have moved deeper to offer an added degree of protection but he was too high. This, combined with Ivanovic being stationed at the halfway line to provide the necessary width and nobody was tracking the inward diagonal run of Young which enabled Man Utd to construct their opening goal.
Young returned the ball to Rooney who provided the assist from Van Persie via a cut back. Despite getting men back into the penalty area, nobody was marking Van Persie. The goal had a large slice of luck with the initial strike rebounding from the post, back onto Luiz and then into the net.
The second goal was a disaster from a defensive perspective for Chelsea.
Although there are concerns over how Chelsea regain their shape in transitions especially when the attacking trident are so fluid, that complaint cannot be levelled here. There was ample time from De Gea taking the short goal kick to Ferdinand to the ball being played forward to Rafael for Chelsea to regain their shape.
Hazard failed to get goal side of Rafael during the move but was tracking him closely as can be seen in the graphic below. Hazard is just a yard or so behind Rafael as they entered the Chelsea half of the pitch. This action makes the decision of Cole to step out toward Rafael, freeing Valencia in the process, highly questionable.
Once the ball was played to Valencia, he was pursued by David Luiz who could have closed Valencia down quicker but provided enough space for the Man Utd winger to drill in a low cross. The resulting cross was converted by Van Persie for his and Utd’s second goal.
With Man Utd taking a 2-0 lead, the onus was on Chelsea to take the initiative. They struggled at first as Utd dropped back into a 4-1-4-1 formation with Carrick operating as the deepest midfielder and Cleverly and Rooney ahead in central midfield.
Chelsea were unable to gain any real fluency with short passing through a clogged central area and it was noticeable how Torres was moving wide in an attempt to find space. Utd were content to absorb pressure and try and exploit the space on the flanks particularly with both Cole and Ivanovic pushing high to offer width for Chelsea.
Man Utd were able to dictate the tempo of the game at this stage with assured passing when they had possession and by controlling space when they were without the ball.
Whilst this worked well initially, Cleverly lost possession on a few occasions and his pass completion rate of just 76% was below the team average withonly Van Persie (74%) and De Gea (60%) having lower levels of pass completion. Despite operating in central midfield for much of the game, Rooney undertook just 1 tackle (which he won) during the course of the game. Of greater consequence was the ground duel which he lost to Oscar and rashly tripped him which provided Chelsea with a free kick prior to half time.
