Three things we learned from Man United’s despondent defeat to Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester United failed their audition for the Europa League final as a strong side fell to an 18th Premier League defeat of the season away to Chelsea.

It was another bad day at the office for Ruben Amorim, who opted against heavy rotation in his starting lineup to reinstate the likes of Andre Onana and Casemiro ahead of next week’s massive continental clash with Tottenham Hotspur.

Here are three things we learned from the latest of United’s league losses.

Mentality? What mentality?

When Harry Maguire thumped home what looked like an opening goal for United, they deserved to be in front. But when it was ruled out for the most marginal of offsides, heads seemed to drop and a win never looked likely again.

If we’re being generous, it was a stroke of luck for Chelsea that kicked them into gear, but the Red Devils gently wilted away and by the time the hosts went ahead halfway through the second half it had that kind of crushing inevitability which fans have grown all too used to.

But more worrying was the lack of reaction from the men in red, who seemed content to accept their fate with barely a whimper. The seven minutes of injury time should have been seven more minutes to grab an equaliser, but instead felt like a seven-minute wait until Amorim could be wheeled out in front of the cameras again to try and explain away another limp performance from his team.

Fortunately, the same group of players seem perfectly happy to throw it all on the line in the Europa League, so there’s some hope of a decent showing in next week’s final, but tonight hardly inspired confidence.

The duality of Patrick Dorgu

Patrick Dorgu was brought in at the end of the winter transfer window to solve United’s wing-back problem, but unsurprisingly given his lack of experience the 20-year-old hasn’t quite managed it – yet.

Tonight’s game perfectly encapsulated his difficult start to life at Old Trafford, where he inadvertently took on the burden of making Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 system burst into life simply by being a specialist wing-back.

If ever a display showed exactly what a raw talent looks like it was his performance tonight, where he was powering past his man one second before finding a dead end on an open highway the next. Defensively he was getting turned inside out by Pedro Neto almost at the same time as shutting down that same winger.

Tonight illustrated the need for patience above all else – there’s a player in there, United just need to give him time to blossom.

United’s only winner

On the day that he came first in a one-horse race, being named United’s Player of the Year by team-mates and fans alike, Bruno Fernandes showed exactly why he scooped that prestigious awards double.

Just as he has been all season, he was peerless in United red. Not only is his passing some of the best we’ve seen since Paul Scholes, his utter tenacity – as when he mercilessly pressed Moises Caicedo back towards his own goal then blocked his pass to force a high turnover – once again proved that whatever you think of his petulance he is an essential part of this ailing squad.

Hardly something new that we learned, but a reinforcement of a fact and a positive to take from a dispiriting night in west London.

Featured image by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images

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