It was a rough week for Chelsea, who first suffered a 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and followed that up by playing 85 minutes down a man and losing 2-1 to Manchester United on Saturday.
MORE — Man United 2-1 Chelsea player ratings | Amorim reaction | Maresca reaction
By definition, all of the Blues were losers this week, but some more than others. Manchester United, on the other hand, managed to bounce back after losing 3-0 to Manchester City last weekend and Ruben Amorim has certainly bought himself a bit more time and leeway… right?
Winners
Ruben Amorim — First of all, who needed a win more than Amorim? Maybe Graham Potter, but that’s it. This is Man United we’re talking about here, so of course it couldn’t be easy or straightforward, but Robert Sanchez’s 5th-minute red card at least gave the Red Devils an opportunity to control and dominate every facet of the game for a change (for 45 minutes, until Casemiro got himself sent off and regular service resumed). It should also be noted that Amorim was one of the “losers” of last weekend’s Manchester derby. What a difference that one week can make, huh?
- First half — Man United’s xG advantage: 1.43-0.05
- Second half — 0.31-0.34
Bruno Fernandes — Scoring 100 goals for a club of Manchester United’s stature is nothing to scoff at, even these days. Through the constant changing of players and coaches and sporting directors, Bruno has been the one shining light and almost always the one to drag United through the muck and out the other side.
Altay Bayindir — Hey, we’re talking about a goalkeeper calamity at Old Trafford, and Bayindir’s name won’t be mentioned once.
Losers
Robert Sanchez — Why, exactly, didn’t Chelsea sign a(nother) new goalkeeper this summer? Enzo Maresca’s reaction said it all. The second that Sanchez came flying out and Bryan Mbeumo went down, you could practically see Maresca asking the same question as he shook his head in disgust and turned to walk back to the bench. It’s not the first time that Sanchez has cost Chelsea with his poor decision making, and considering that the transfer window doesn’t open again for another three and a half months it probably won’t be the last either.
Estevao and Pedro Neto (not their fault) — Both players were subbed off after 5 minutes and it’s pretty clear that they were going to be a big part of Chelsea’s attacking game plan to get in behind Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu out wide. In hindsight, probably not the best choice by Maresca, as Chelsea posed little to no threat on the counter-attack. Of course, he couldn’t have known that Cole Palmer would also be forced off due to injury 15 minutes later, or that both sides would finish the game with 10 men. Basically, just a rough, rough night for everyone in blue.
