Grey skies, pouring rain, and a maddening red card for Robert Sánchez inside of five minutes blew up any ideas we might have had about how this game might play out. In response, Enzo Maresca chose to take off not only Estêvão but Pedro Neto as well, switching to a toothless 5-3-1, which managed to hold out for less than 10 minutes before conceding.
Cole Palmer added injury to insult by limping off just after 20 minutes, appearing to aggravate his groin concern. He was replaced by a midfielder instead of another attacker. Then we made a royal mess of some set piece defending to let United double their lead anyway.
Casemiro collected a second yellow to get sent off just prior to half-time, but Chelsea’s response to that bit of fortune was not quite as positive as we might have hoped. Still, we did briefly have the ball in the back of the net before that goal was rightly ruled out for a clear offside on Fofana on the corner.
Maresca finally shifted his tactics into a slightly more attacking shape for the final 25-30 minutes, though it took another set piece to find a breakthrough, with Trevoh Chalobah heading in. Unfortunately, the comeback would fall short in the final 10 minutes.
From disaster to dismay to disappointment. Burn this game.
Source link
