Match date: 19 January 2014

Chelsea and Manchester United met at Old Trafford early on in the season with the match ending in a 0-0 draw, with Mourinho’s Chelsea seemingly looking to play for 1 point. At that point, Moyes’ side had just beat Swansea 4-1 in their opening match of the Premier League and the inconsistencies that have plagued Moyes’ opening season at Manchester United had not yet shown through. Inconsistencies that have seen them lose their opening three matches in 2014.

For this match, Mourinho set his side out in a 4-2-3-1, looking to counter as much as possible, while Moyes set Manchester United out in a 4-4-1-¼-4-2, with Young and Valencia on the wings and Januzaj supporting Danny Welbeck.

United in Control

With Jose Mourinho back at Chelsea, Stamford Bridge has once again become an incredibly hard ground for visiting sides to find much joy. Manchester United, however, started very brightly as they were able to get good possession in Chelsea’s defensive third. A good amount of their best play came in the wide areas through Valencia and Rafael and with Januzaj working his way into the wide left of Manchester United’s attack to create an overload. Both Oscar and Willian, despite the latter starting on the right of Chelsea’s attack, were fairly narrow throughout the match which meant that, at times, Manchester United were able to attack Ivanovic with Evra, Young, and Januzaj. This caused Cahill to come out of a central area to support Ivanovic while Willian or Oscar tracked back. United had the first good opportunity of the match as well, with Young combining well with Welbeck on the edge of the penalty area, only to see his shot saved by Petr Cech.

Above, you can see Manchester United playing in the wide areas with Valencia and Januzaj the most actively involved in the attacks. Perhaps the more influential part of their play against Chelsea in those opening minutes, however, was United’s pressing. They looked to get good numbers forward to press Chelsea’s back four and David Luiz, who was acting as the defensive midfielder, but who left large gaps between the lines, the exact place Mourinho says is the most important area in a match. This is a big reason why Chelsea have spent £21m on Nemanja Matic, despite him being a make-weight part of the David Luiz deal a few winters ago. Matic will give Chelsea a disciplined defensive midfielder, rather than Luiz, and a better player in getting the ball forward than Mikel.

United made it very difficult for Chelsea to play the ball out of their own half and in the opening 17 minutes of the match, before Eto’o’s goal, they struggled to get the ball into United’s attacking third, with Eto’o not getting a touch on the ball in that third of the field prior to scoring his goal. Because of United’s pressing, Chelsea were restricted from building up plays from the back and had to resort to finding Willian, Oscar, and Hazard in the wide areas with longer passes. As you can see below, they resorted to a fairly direct style of play in the opening 17 minutes.

Another element that allowed United to control the match in the opening stage, and possess the ball more than Chelsea, was Danny Welbeck’s defensive work. When United were defending, whether they were pressing or sitting back a bit more, Welbeck would drop onto David Luiz or Ramires so that Chelsea would not have a numbers-up situation in the centre of the pitch and it also forced Chelsea’s centre backs to play to the outside, despite a fairly narrow setup, or try to hit the ball to Eto’o and hope that the striker could hold the ball up and bring others into play. Welbeck did this very well throughout the match and it allowed Januzaj to play further forward when United were defending, becoming their most advanced player and offering a good outlet throughout the match. Below, you can see Welbeck dropped off, this time against Ramires, as United made it hard for Chelsea to play, especially in the wide areas of the pitch.

Chelsea Going Forward

The attacking trio behind Eto’o has coming more and more consistent, with Mata rumoured to be leaving Chelsea in the January window. Oscar and Willian were constantly changing who would occupy the area behind Eto’o and the right side of Chelsea’s attack, while Hazard would stay on the left. With Azpilicueta as left back, despite being right footed, he does not offer as great of an attacking threat as Cole and this left Hazard isolated against Rafael, which worked in the favour of the Belgian. Had Azpilicueta gotten forward with great urgency, it would have meant that Valencia would have tracked back as well, but instead it allowed Hazard to have 1 on 1 situations with Rafael throughout the match which made Chelsea’s counter attack that much more threatening.

Eto’o’s first goal was scored with his first touches of the ball inside of United’s defensive third, but it was certainly against the run of play. His second goal was the result of poor defending from Manchester United after a Chelsea corner kick, with Nemanja Vidic not getting out quickly enough, leaving Eto’o onside with room to receive the ball about six yards out. His third goal was again down to United’s poor defending with Gary Cahill allowed to have a free header on a corner kick which De Gea did well enough to save, but only into the path of Eto’o. Moyes was certainly critical of his team’s defending in his post-match comments, but Chelsea were quick and incisive on their breaks and looked the more inspired side going forward, aside from the opening 15 minutes of the match. While United relied upon Januzaj for as not only their creative outlet, but as their vertical option when trying to transition, Chelsea had the likes of Hazard, usually isolated against Rafael, Eto’o dropping in, and one of either Willian or Oscar offering another vertical option for Chelsea midfielders and backs to play the ball forward to.

Moyes’ Initial Selection, Substitutions

Despite putting in a good performance against Swansea last weekend, Shinji Kagawa found himself relegated to the bench against Chelsea and was replaced by Ashley Young, who had little influence on the match. Throughout the match, Januzaj took up positions on the left side of Manchester United’s attack and he looked most dangerous when he found himself in that area of the pitch rather than behind Welbeck where he didn’t always have the space to run into or sufficient time on the ball to take on his marker. On the left though, he was able to use his pace and trickery well, but it also meant that Young was rather redundant with the English winger staying outside rather than coming in to fill the space that Januzaj vacated.

Moyes could have initially played Kagawa behind Welbeck, which would have allowed both the central area in United’s attacks to be occupied as well as allow them to have a consistent attacking threat down the left. However, Moyes opted to leave Kagawa on the bench for the whole of the match and when he did take Young off, and replaced him with Javier Hernandez, Januzaj was no longer the focal point of United’s attack with the partnership of Hernandez and Welbeck, in a now 4-4-2, taking the burden of United’s attacking moves, meaning Januzaj was underutilised on the left.

Mourinho’s Post-Goal Changes

After going up 3-0, Moyes made the first two moves, bringing on Smalling for Evra due to injury and Young on for Hernandez which changed Manchester United into a more traditional 4-4-2, with the Mexican striker up front with Danny Welbeck. Chelsea began to sit a bit deeper, having a three goal lead, and United began to control the ball a bit more, which prompted Mourinho to take off Oscar and replace him with Mikel. This meant that Ramires pushed further forward and Luiz and Mikel acted as the two holding midfielders.

Mourinho made two substitutions after this one, one immediately after United scored, bringing Torres on for Eto’o and then, later, Matic on for Willian. With Matic on, Chelsea had three holding midfielders on the field, playing in a 4-3-2-1 with Ramires and Hazard wide behind Torres. Despite the score being 3-1 with just a few minutes left, this essentially ended United’s chances at a late comeback as Mourinho suffocated the space between his defense and midfield lines.

Conclusion

Plenty of question marks over Moyes’ team selection as Jones was introduced back into the starting XI despite coming back from an injury, while Darren Fletcher was dropped to make room. Kagawa’s place on the bench, a player that can easily play a number 10 role for Moyes, was also not used and the creative burden of the team seemed to rest on the shoulders of 18-year-old Januzaj.

With both Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney out, it is understandable that United and Moyes are struggling to find inspiration in the squad, but Moyes said earlier in January that he wasn’t looking to bring anyone in during the January transfer window, despite United’s lack of consistency.

Chelsea continue to win matches without playing too great of football. They were able to get a goal on a counter attack with the help of a deflection, but their second and third goals were the result of poor defending from Manchester United. Mourinho, even when Chelsea are at home, seems content to allow his teams to control the space in which the opposition can play in, allowing them to have the ball, before then countering quickly, which is really what they are setup to do.