Man Utd collapse against Chelsea follows pattern of implosion that threatens Erik ten Hag’s future

He said that just because they lost there was nothing he could do about people carping and pointing that out, as if it were an anomaly. He went to say he had ‘a very good defence and a very good goalkeeper’. 

And yet:

We started poor. We defended poorly in the first two occasions but you saw we were dominating the game and the way we played was brilliant to turn the game. We deserved to win. But you can’t give it away. It’s a team performance. You can point to one of the players [for errors] but it’s about the team. We made wrong decisions, we didn’t help each other in possession as well. Pass and move. Out of possession we made bad decisions. Not a lack of concentration. A questionable penalty decision. Very soft but we had to do better. We are resilient. You have seen today how resilient we were to get back in the game.

It’s difficult to breathe. The last five minutes ... that was an incredible game. We started well, it was a game that we had under control and then Manchester United [got back into it]... We needed a victory like this. We had to have a connection with our fans. We need to connect because it’s tough for the players when we make mistakes like the one that led to the first goal. 

We have a very young squad, only a few with experience. We are in Chelsea, the demand is so high. We always try to do more. We lost two points against Burnley but they [players] need to understand how difficult this league is.

We need to be consistent. We are the youngest team in the big five leagues in Europe. It’s difficult but this can be the boost [that changes the season].

Cole [Palmer] does himself massive credit. To arrive very late in the window. He has shown his character. We can talk about talent but it is his character. When he came he said what do I have to do because I want to play every game and help the team win games. He can still improve, but he is amazing. He deserves his big price because today he is amazing. 

Rio Ferdinand: ‘You can’t have excuses like that at this level. Both of these teams have shown glimpses of catching fire, they have a moment like this. Man Utd did it in the Cup with a last-minute winner but then went to Brentford.’ 

Why didn’t someone take the responsibility of picking up Palmer. ‘They switched off,’ says Rio Ferdinand. Yes. But it’s not good enough. It’s not a serious thing to do. 

And revokes his award of the MOTM to Garnacho and gives it to Palmer instead who gives a post-match interview of such elation of spirit but banality of words it was barely worth hauling him away from his manager’s embrace to conduct. 

Amazing comeback by Manchester United from 2-0 down trumped by Chelsea’s late comeback to win 4-3. Dreadful game management from United who at least squandered a point there at the death if we say Dalot was unfortunate. We shouldn’t take anything away from Madueke’s run, though. 

Chelsea 4 Man Utd 3 (McTominay og/Palmer )  Actually it has been given to Palmer as his left-foot shot was on target before it struck McTominay on his biceps and gave Onana no chance. It was from a corner on the right when United left Palmer unmarked 15 yards out. Kamikaze defending. Bizarre. Twenty-four hours after Foden’s hat-trick another City trainee bags one. 

Chelsea 3 Man Utd 3 (Palmer, pen) Rolls it bottom right. 

Palmer has had the ball in his hands for two minutes. 

Great run in down the left by Madueke and Dalot slips and catches his heel with his arm. VAR check, though. No idea why. 

United hold possession for a minute in the driving rain, killing the clock. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is in the Directors’ Box, sitting next to Peter Schmeichel. 

Garnacho is awarded the man of the match perspex trinket. Pochettino has a face like thunder. No wonder. He has bags of talent at his disposal but little leadership or nous. 

Fernades and Dalot are tackled from behind, the second of them earning a free-kick as they shifted the ball inside the Chelsea half wide on the left. 

Eight minutes of stoppage time go on the board. Seems a bit excessive by about two minutes. Wan-Bissaka was down for about two but that was about it in a relentless first half hour of the second half. 

Madueke ⇢ Gallagher.

Chelsea corner. They take it short to Cucurella who bobbles it to Palmer, presumably to shoot from the right of the D but it took so lomg to get there he was swarmed and had to hit it back to Enzo who took the corner and was standing offside. Set-piece coach there yet? 

Gallagher can’t take advantage of a Mainoo mis-kick 30 yards out and there are groans galore. United are defending quite desperately but convincingly so far. Sterling found Chukwuemeka by the penalty spot with a shimmy and a reverse pass but he took a touch and lost the ball, hitting the deck when tackled. No pen. 

Mason Mount comes on for United to loud boos from the home fans. One fan near the press box shouted ‘snake’ and another shouted ‘Judas’.

Enzo picks out Cucurella with a chip out to the left for Cucurella and the left-back crosses. Kambwala takes no risks and pumps it behind for a corner. United clear. 

Boos ring around the Bridge because:

Mount ⇢ Garnacho. 

Wan-Bissaka comes round on the cover to tackle Chukwuemeka as the substitute ran down the inside left on to a pass that curved away from Maguire and Kambwala. 

Sterling floats a cross too close to Onana but he gets the ball back 20 seconds later and runs into the box to square it but no one had made the run, four blue shirts behind the ball. 

Gilchrist heads over from a Chelsea corner earned by more Palmer skill and pluck. He really is a diamond amid some dross. Mainoo throws himself in to block Palmer’s left-foot pile-driver and takes it amidships. 

Gilchrist ⇢ Gusto

Chalobah ⇢ Disasi

and for United, McTominay ⇢ Casemiro. 

Chelsea free-kick by the byline on the right. Palmer whips it viciously with his left eluding Disasi’s near-post run and Onana slaps it clear.

One young Chelsea fan holds up a shirt with Mount’s former number on it and the word Judas. Ha! I think it was down to your board sellling your homegrown assets to bank it all as profit on PSR so you can buy the likes of Caicedo and sign him up until 2031. 

Pochettino acts:

Sterling ⇢ Caicedo

Chukwuemeka ⇢ Mudryk.

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 3 (Garnacho) Gallagher hooks a 30-yard pass nonsensically out for a throw by Man Utd’s right corner flag. United throw it to a blue shirt who gives it straight back and Rashford and Antony set off up the right and Antony plays a fantastic pass into the middle and Garnacho lets it bounce and eyebrows it into goal from 10 yards. Antony, take a bow, The pass with the outside of his left shaped away from the keeper. 

Evans is injured:

Kambwala ⇢ Evans

Rashford ⇢ Hojlund. 

Antony races 50 yards with Cucurella, cuts inside along the byline and squares the ball through the six-yard box, but Hojlund had moved out for the cut-back not the near-post pass. 

Jonny Evans looks injured now, too. 

Wan-Bissaka is given the all clear and Garnacho sets off on a run, taking on Disasi and taking him deep into the Chelsea box but his was the last touch and Chelsea will have a goal-kick even though the ref initially signalled for a corner. 

Wan-Bissaka is having a head injury assessment after bumping heads at a corner. 

Casemiro, free header at the corner after canny movement, butchers the chance, bludgeoning it over. Chelsea break from the goal-kick and earn themselves a corner 25 seconds later when Onana at full stretch palms a blistering shot over the bar one-handed. 

Evans heads away Palmer’s cross from the right. He’s been magnificent for 10 minutes. 

Disasi squares the ball to Badiashile but gets it wrong, pushing it ahead of him and Hojlund pounces, dribbles 40 yards and is about to shoot when Disasi catches up and force it behind for a corner. 

Jackson lamps a right-foot angled shot that Onana turns away and triggers a counter that sends Hojlund haring 60 yards before tapping it to his left to Bruno on the 18-yard line and he thunders his shot over the bar. 

Evans makes a vital block to keep out Enzo’s shot after yet more great work from Palmer to return the ball to Fernandez with a quick, cute pass. Maguire escapes a booking when Jackson knocks the ball over him on halfway and Maguire bodychecks him to stop him chasing it. Breathless action now. End to end. 

Terrific run from Palmer across from the right to the left before shooting into Evans even though he had an overload. Twice so far this half Palmer’s running off his marker has disoriented Casemiro. He is owning that space in front of United’s centre-backs, popping up like a whack-a-mole. 

Bruno wants a penalty when his left-foot shot from 20 yards hits Badiashile on the shoulder, then wants another when Disasi strong-arms Hojlund over and Maguire ends that attack with a galloping run into the box from the left before hammering a rising shot over the far post. 

Manchester United kick off and Maguire tries to play a long ball up the right for Bruno Fernandes but it skips into Petrovic’s hands as the keeper raced out to the edge of his area. 

Evans ⇢ Varane. 

Very entertaining but I wouldn’t be surprised if Pochettino came out for the second half with as much hair as Ten Hag after throwing away their two-goal lead. Caicedo didn’t set his price and let’s not forget how highly coveted he was. But he needs a spell out of the team. His confidence and concentration look shot. 

Fun game, this. Palmer crashes a blistering shot into the post from an angle. Maguire yells at the bench that Varane can’t continue and he can’t defend on his own but still no change. 

Now Bruno is down with a calf problem but gets to his feet grimacing. Caicedo invites an attack by letting the ball roll under his foot. This is looking like a record transfer of Steve Daley to Man City proportions. Can’t shake the impression of Brighton doing a Harry Enfield ‘I saw you coming’ over the sale. 

Casemiro and Enzo are having a heated conversation and the Brazil midfielder wags his finger in Enzo’s face after the Argentinian chopped down Mainoo. 

Casemiro’s rash challenge opens up a path down the left for Mudryk but United see off the resulting corner. 

We’ll have five minutes of stoppage time. 

Mudryk and Maguire have better chances than they realise, the latter with a header but can’t punish more defensive lapses. Varane is holding his hip and looking concerned. Jonny Evans is warming up. 

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 2 (Bruno)  Excellent team goal started by Onana’s distribution that invites Antony to race up the right before he switches it over to Garnacho just outside the box on the left. He turns and lays it back to Dalot who stands up a deep cross that Hojlund looks favourite for but Bruno gives him a shout and creeps in behind to bullet a header across goal and in at the far post. What a turnaround. 

Enzo is picked out by Palmer with an incisive pass to the left of the D and the World Cup-winner spanks a bobbling shot with his right that Onana blocks and Wan-Bissaka hacks clear. 

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 1 (Garnacho) Assist for Caicedo. Brainless decision from the record British transfer signing, passing infield when running back in the left-back position instead of rolling it back to the keeper. Garnacho pounces, runs diagonally into the box, gives the keeper the eyes and sits him down just as he reversed it with his left into the bottom right corner. 

Free-kick on the left for United. Fernandes’ cross is headed out to 20 yards to Mainoo who stings Petrovic’s palms with a fizzer. 

Badiashile heads away Bruno’s corner at the near post. McCist points out that Man Utd have been trying to use Dalot and Wan-Bissaka just as ‘Big Ange’ employs Porro and Udogie as No10s in possession. To say it isn’t working would flatter Ten Hag. It was never going to work. 

Maguire does well to force Mudryk wide after Jackson leaves Casemiro for dead with a diagonal run from inside-left to inside-right before feeding Mudryk. Maguire holds his line and narrows the angle, forcing Mudryk to shoot into the side-netting. 

Palmer’s running and commitment, not to mention the skill, have galvanised the crowd. He really is a one-man tonic that may cure the Chelsea malaise. 

There have been some chants of “Mason, what’s the score?” directed at Mason Mount on the away team’s substitutes’ bench since Cole Palmer’s penalty.

Palmer diddles Dalot with a shoulder dip, shimmy and acceleration down the right and all the makeshift left-back can do is leg him up. In comes the free-kick, placed perfectly on to Disasi’s head to the left of the box, Wan-Bissaka having been successfully obstructed, but the beefy centre-half bullies his header over the bar. Should have done much better. 

Manchester United simply make too many errors. Varane again bails out his midfield with a block to prevent Palmer doing further damage with a left-foot shot after ghosting into space. 

Chelsea 2 Man Utd 0 (Palmer, pen)  Hooked hard into the bottom right, sending Onana the wrong way. 

Antony sticks out a lazy leg to try to stop Mudryk’s pass reaching Cucurella and invites the Spain left-back to fall over the hurdle. 

United attack up the right with Wan-Bissaka and Antony before the right-back slides it outside to Mainoo who stands up a deep cross beyond the back post and Garnacho takes on the volley but scoops it over. 

Maguire goes to ground and is diddle by Jackson down the right but Man Utd get away with his mistake, Varane covering. 

Wan-Bissaka is disgusted that the ref awards Mudryk a corner after the right-back chased the flying left winger down into the left corner. Maguire heads the corner back out to the left and Chelsea switch it to Gusto who cuts in from the right and ponders a shot but tees up Cucurella from 18 yards and he leans back and sprays a shot miles over. 

Casemiro switches from left to right with a sharp pass out to Antony who looks after the ball well on a dribble before he picks out Hojlund to the left of the penalty spot, back to goal. The striker shields it and lays it off to his left to Garnacho who snatches into a shot that strikes Disasi and does no damage. 

Two deflected shots, the first by Antony hits Mudryk on the backside and balloons into Petrovic’s arms. Then Palmer finds Mudryk with a slick pass and sends him off on a sprint down the left before he cuts in and fires a shot into Varane and the ball loops over the angle of crossbar and right post for a corner … that comes to naught.  

Diligent work from Cucurella to track Bruno’s run and block his effort after a United break. Dalot, incidentally, is left-back tonight and Wan-Bissaka on the right. 

Chelsea 1 Man Utd 0 (Gallagher)  Enzo slides a pass diagonally out to the right for Gusto who gets in behind Dalot and whips over a cross that clips Varane’s heels and diverts straight to the Chelsea captain who fizzes a shot between Casemiro’s legs and under the dive of Onana who saw it late because, until he opened his gait, Casemiro was blocking his view of the ball. 

Good positioning from Cucurella allows him to pounce on a Maguire header but nothing comes of Chelsea’s attack. 

Chelsea kick off, attacking the old Shed and lump a ball up that Maguire heads away and United launch a counter with Antony haring up the right, taking the ball 50 yards before switching it across the 18-yard box for Bruno Fernandes to knock it back and he shoots into a Chelsea defender. 

“Fernandez and Caicedo have failed to deliver on a regular basis so I’m looking forward to see what they’ll do tonight.”

Chelsea are in a huddle and then adopt their positions, Palmer on the right rather than as a false nine to start.

Both in their home strips in their entirety. Conor Gallagher leads out Chelsea with the pressure-diffuser holes in his socks that disgust Richard Keys so much. 

Mason Mount is on the substitutes’ bench for his first return to Stamford Bridge as a Manchester United player. He chatted with former team-mate Thiago Silva during the warm-ups - it will be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets tonight.

Chelsea have charged the most expensive ticket in Premier League history tonight, with those in the ‘dug-out club’ paying £5,000 for the privilege of sitting behind Mauricio Pochettino and the home bench. A few of the people in the £5,000 seats seem very enthusiastic about seeing Manchester United players....

It was in doubt, but in the last few days Malo has improved a lot and now he is fit. It’s good to have the same starting XI and repeat it to give confidence and trust in them. To see if with this capacity to repeat the team we can improve with our performance. This is a must-win game. 

We have two big games in three days so we divide the game times [for Rashford]. We need everyone. We have a very strong bench. We need a strong bench. We had good contributions from the bench lately, Mount scored, Antony scored, Amad scored. [Mount] is not ready for a start, he has had so many problems this season, we have to build him up. We have a lack of fit defenders, it’s a relief [Maguire and Varane are fit]. It would have been a headache.

Has rattled through the Manics, the Clash, Pulp so far. All a prelude to this:

Erik ten Hag has suggested that Marcus Rashford has been rested but there is no two ways about it: if the forward was playing well and in form there is no way he would have been left out of this game. It is a different situation from Manchester City benching Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne against Aston Villa – and not least because they have such a strong squad and can afford to make such changes. It means there is a start for Antony who remains the signing, more than any other made by Ten Hag, who is being used as an example of the waste in the transfer market under the manager and whether he can be trusted with future signings. How Ten Hag could do with a good performance from Antony.

Matt Law has the lowdown on his long trip ‘home’ …

Marcus Rashford’s brother hits out at Gary Neville and other pundits for ‘clickbait’ criticism.

No one knows which Chelsea will turn up, no one knows which Man Utd will turn up. Pochettino [on sticking with the same starting XI] maybe saying, ‘you got us into this mess, you get us out of it’. 

Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay are the top scorers against the top six and both are on the bench. Marcus Rashford has been a talisman at this football club for a long time now, so it’s a gamble. 

Marcus is on the bench for rotation to keep him and the team fresh through a busy period, with another big game on Sunday.

Chelsea Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Jackson, Gallagher, Mudryk; Palmer.
Subtitutes  Bettinelli, Gilchrist, Chalobah, Thiago Silva, Madueke, Chukwuemeka, Casadei, Tauriainen, Sterling.

Manchester United Onana; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Wan-Bissaka; Casemiro, Mainoo; Antony, Bruno Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund.
Subtitutes Heaton, Kambwala, Evans, Amrabat, Eriksen, McTominay, Diallo, Mount, Rashford.

Referee Jarred Gillett (Queensland).

Maguire comes in for Lindelof, Casemiro for McTominay and Antony for Rashford. 

Quite a long read but if you do fancy it, it was written before the tragic, early death of Ray Wilkins.

Six of one – The best and worst transfers between Manchester United and Chelsea

Having a bet on today’s match? First take a look at the offers on these best betting sites.

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Premier League match between Chelsea vs Manchester United, both of whom have Cup semi-finals the weekend after next as opportunities to take something positive from poxy seasons. They start the game in 12th and sixth respectively but this fixture, which was this competition’s defining match for a good 10 years from 2003-13, has recently been a drab affair and rather one sided. Chelsea have not won home or away in the league against Man Utd since 2017-18, losing five and drawing seven which include one defeat and four draws at the Bridge.

Chelsea, who lost 2-1 at Old Trafford in December, are unbeaten in their last five league matches but have hardly been convincing, provoking something that looks and smells like mutiny among their supporters in the midst of draws with Brentford and Burnley during that run not to mention the howls of exasperation and derision when they were pinned back to 2-2 by Leicester in the Cup quarter-final before ultimately squeaking victory late on.

Stamford Bridge has always been a very demanding crowd and their patience has been all but exhausted by the failure to show any discernible progress since the takeover in the summer of 2022. If everyone were fit, what would Chelsea’s best team be? Still, because of inconsistency of form and despite all the investment, no one has a clue and that’s never a good position to be in.

Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t so much as have an embarrassment of riches as an extravagance of temptations. He might be better off pulling on the hair shirt of his early days at Spurs rather than the mink coat of his years at PSG and sticking to a core of 15 possible starters. But in his defence, who knows how that would play in the boardroom or the massed ranks in the exec suite?

Manchester United have beaten Everton and were truly terrible during their spawny draw with Brentford since losing two on the spin against Fulham and the derby with City. Victory here would close the gap to Spurs in fifth to six points and to eight with a game in hand to Villa in fourth. Like Chelsea, they have lost too many influential players to injury and, although they showed in the Cup against Liverpool that they can rise to an occasion, in truth they have made barely any progress since the end of the 2020-21 season. This, once the most prestigious of fixtures, has become one whose true relevance will be measured only in the scale of the backlash should one side display the meekness that has characterised much of their seasons.