3 Reasons why Manchester United won against Chelsea
Manchester United strolled past Chelsea to progress into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The visitors were brilliant on the night and emerged from the Bridge with a 2-0 victory.
The away side raced off the blocks and put Chelsea under immediate strife. Romelu Lukaku fired a half-chance over the bar while Ander Herrera induced a smart save from Kepa. The home side though slowly grew into the game and dominated the ball.
However, the visitors took the lead against the run of play in the 31st-minute, courtesy Herrera’s header. Moments before half time, the Red Devils doubled their advantage when the enigmatic Paul Pogba found himself on the end of a superb cross from Marcus Rashford.
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The hosts tried to turn the screw in the second period but never got going. While the victory was another shot in the arm for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the defeat compounded Maurizio Sarri’s woes.
Here is a look at the three reasons that helped Manchester United beat their rivals:
#3 Chelsea fail to make the most of their possession
The game at Stamford Bridge assumed a familiar pattern with Chelsea enjoying the lion’s share of the ball. However, the Blues again lacked penetration in possession. Chelsea ended up with only a couple of shots on target despite having more than two-thirds of the ball.
The home side’s passing was pedestrian for large parts of the game. They tried to scythe through Manchester United’s defense, yet never looked likely of cracking open the Red Devils’ defensive safe.
Though there were bright patches of possession for Chelsea, they were very far and few in between. In addition, none of those good spells of domination ever culminated in anything substantial.
On paper, Chelsea’s attack boasted of enough firepower to rattle the Red Devils’ cage. Yet, like many a time before, the players looked bereft of confidence, ideas, and imagination.
The ‘SarriBall’ has quickly transformed into ‘SorryBall’ with Chelsea’s own players clueless on its execution. Time is running out for Sarri and another such performance could see him getting the boot before he can say sorry.