New era Man United held league leaders Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge as Jadon Sancho pounced on Jorginho’s horrific pass to open the scoring board.
There was quality in some of the United players when they met Chelsea in the most awaited clash. They did themselves good and Sancho took his goal extremely well. However, Chelsea was the better side and it would have been a travesty for United to have got three points from this. Even one seemed rather generous, certainly given the gulf between these teams in the first-half.
The final score was not the only shock of the afternoon. United started their line-up without Ronaldo. This took many by surprise and led to immediate speculation that Rangnick’s presence is being felt before his boots are on the ground.
Regardless, United got lucky and were handed a foothold in the game. But had it continued on its course without Jorginho’s mistake, it might have been asked how a team, without a cutting edge feels able to drop such a proven matchwinner.
Rashford never threatened and neither did Fernandes. But United had eight touches in the opposition box all game. They scored from one of only two shots on target. The other was an harmless effort by Fred that Mendy caught with his hands.
When Ronaldo came in, United were on the lead. However, Chelsea’s leveler was hardly his fault. It was one of those unfortunate penalty area collisions. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s attempted clearance was interrupted by Thiago Silva’s outstretched leg which he then kicked by mistake.
Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot and, in the modern game, without controversy. They always appear harsh, though, those ones. There was absolutely no intention to commit a foul on Wan-Bissaka’s part.
Jorginho took it, cheeky as always. A little hop and skip, the tiniest delay to get a read on David De Gea’s intentions, a delicate chip low into the left corner. In those moments, he looks among the most delicate technicians on the planet. At other times, not so much.
In the 50th minute, a wild, hoofed clearance from United under set piece pressure, at a time when they had not mustered a single chance worthy of note, sent the ball downfield. It was dropping from a height – a fly in baseball, a dolly in cricket – but even so, a player of Jorginho’s calibre, with genuine pretensions to be crowned winner of the Ballon D’or, should have been able to kill it in the air.
Instead, he took a heavy touch and gifted the ball to Sancho, on the run. By the time Jorginho recovered, the United man was a speck. One on one with Mendy, not a blue shirt in sight, his finish was exquisite.
In the circumstances, then, Thomas Tuchel might have been happy with a point. His demeanor on the touchline, however, suggested otherwise. When the officials missed a clear offside against Ronaldo late on, Tuchel’s apoplectic fury earned him a booking.
No wonder. It could be argued his team should have been the ones out of sight. The first half was all Chelsea. Usually, this phrase is deployed metaphorically indicating that one team had a lot of the play. These 45 minutes, though, belonged to the home side in its entirety. Manchester United offered nothing unless we charitably include one ball over the top to Sancho resulting in a poor touch and an easy collection for Mendy.