Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United: Takeaways

By Jack Williams | Apr 20, 2015

Credit: ESPN

The winning run came to an end, a weakened Manchester United team due to injury suffered defeat at the hands of league leaders Chelsea. Thanks to Eden Hazard’s first half goal, Manchester United were not able to find a reply and ended up losing the game. There were some good performances however, especially from Luke Shaw who was returning to the side in Daley Blind’s absence.

Let’s take a look at the takes from the game:

1) All possession, no end-product

Despite having the most possession, the game is won by goals after all and so there needed to be an end-product. But there was none.

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Chelsea were strong defensively, which was a major factor in why United were unable to find the net. This was to be expected, a typical ‘park the bus’ ploy from Jose Mourinho. The concern was however the lack of players to capitalise on the chances that they had. Falcao was poor, Rooney was ineffective because he was forced to play in midfield and Fellaini could not impose himself like he usually does. This therefore meant that left no other clear goalscorer. Robin van Persie did not make it off of the bench.

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On the plus side, Manchester United were confident and reacted well to being depleted due to injury. Key figures such as Michael Carrick were missing and Daley Blind was also a notable absence. That said, Luke Shaw was a brilliant stand in and really impressed in both defence and attack. It was his pass that let Falcao in, only to hit the post. So despite their best efforts they did not score but it was in no way a poor performance and one which they can take heart from.

Louis van Gaal thought his Manchester United side played well. He said after the game:

"“It’s amazing how we have played here. When you see the statistics it’s unbelievable that the result is 1-0,” he said. “But that’s football. It’s not like another sport. That counts.”"

At the start of the season, results were mixed and questions were still being asked of the players and the manager. They have answered them this season and can still finish inside the Champions League places with the last few games to play. It should be judged a pretty successful season at the end of this game, despite the loss.

2) Falcao fails (again)

Another poor showing from the Colombian, his season keeps on getting worse and his future at Old Trafford surely all but over by now.

Granted he shows some signs of work-rate, and was unlucky to hit the post in the second half but the fact remains he is supposed to be an elite striker who simply cannot cope in this league. The Chelsea side were extremely strong and thus not an ideal game for Falcao. But Louis van Gaal had no other choice; and still showed he had some faith left in the loanee from Monaco. Sadly, that faith could not be repaid.

At some points in the game his movement was good, and can be argued it was his teammates that let him down. But at the same time, it was he who lost the ball in the lead up to Hazard’s goal and so must take his share of the blame for it. He will almost certainly leave at the end of the season, to which team remains to be seen. River Plate have been linked, as have various European clubs including Valencia.

3) Rooney is not a midfielder, even if he would like to be one

He gave it his best shot, and of course would rather be playing as a striker but injuries and tactical tweaks meant he was forced to play as a midfielder.

Rooney doesn’t always have a good sense of where to position himself or how to react to what’s going on around him in that midfield role, causing some issues with teammates as people forget their roles to help out. He is after all a striker and only a few strikers can really adapt to another role such as central midfield.

It might have made more sense to put Juan Mata there and have Rooney playing as a forward with Fellaini, putting Di Maria on the wing with Ashley Young. This would have allowed Hererra to stay central; although he would have to play a more defensive role than he would have liked.

This is perhaps why Louis van Gaal opted to go with Rooney, who he felt could adapt. Either way, it wasn’t his worst performance but it wasn’t his best either. It shows how important Carrick has been this season. One game out and it all goes wrong seemingly.

Rooney does give it his all to his credit and does act like he wants to be a great midfielder. But he is at heart a striker and will forever remain so surely.

Other takes:

– United are now on 65 points, and in third place. A return to Champions League football seems certain.

– Luke Shaw played really well, so well he gets a whole article on his performance.

– Robin van Persie was on the bench, the Dutchman has been out since getting injured against Swansea. A return to the side in the next game, which is away to Everton perhaps?

– Although it was a loss, it was a good performance from Manchester United. Chelsea were simply the team who did enough to win.

Next: Manchester United player ratings against Chelsea

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