Normally I would sympathise with that sentiment, but in this case there's good cause. Because that really was a somewhat worrying performance, in many respects. Our midfield was cut through like butter, we were frequently a shambles at the back and there was that telltale sign present in all of our big defeats this season; the half-second-too-lateness in duels and lack of sharpness and precision for long stretches. If we played like that against a good team it'd be us walking off the pitch with a lopsided loss, and against a competent one it'd be at best a toss-up how the points fell. Luckily, Chelsea were neither.
PL W FA Premier League
Manchester United 4:1 Chelsea
Post-match discussion
Thu, 25 May 2023
Normally I would sympathise with that sentiment, but in this case there's good cause. Because that really was a somewhat worrying performance, in many respects. Our midfield was cut through like butter, we were frequently a shambles at the back and there was that telltale sign present in all of our big defeats this season; the half-second-too-lateness in duels and lack of sharpness and precision for long stretches. If we played like that against a good team it'd be us walking off the pitch with a lopsided loss, and against a competent one it'd be at best a toss-up how the points fell. Luckily, Chelsea were neither.
Great result, a bit messy defending. I'll take it! Casemiro MOM for me.
It's weird, loads on here see them as a bogey side.
They probably were 10 years ago but in recent history they aren't, we're their bogey side if anything.
Haven't beaten us at all for over 3 years, haven't beaten us in the League for nearly 6 years, haven't won at Old Trafford in over 10 years.
They were astoundingly bad. Good at one thing: Moving the ball from their own third to the attacking third. And then, as you say, they create chances by overloading, only they can't finish them and are so exposed when they lose the ball. Can't defend on transition, can't defend their own box. Fofana in particular was just awful. Considered as a tactical approach against Manchester United, it ticks pretty much every "don't do" box. Well done, Super Frank.
Forget one thing: I do hope Liverpool enjoy the slog of Thursday nights! 
The fortress Stamford Bridge scars take a long time to heal!
Enjoyable but frustrating game at the same time. Great to see a game that isn't a laboured 1-0 but alarming how easily Chelsea were allowed to maraud through the midfield in the first half. They were very bad on the night, we were lucky to catch them at what must be their lowest point, as there are the makings of a good sign once Poch gives them some spine.
Paul Scholes was speculating on whether ETH will be more pragmatic against City and play with an extra midfielder, which you almost feel is essential if we're not going to get massacred. Except, as he says, ETH tends to stick with his attacking philosophy and you wonder where the goals will come from if he plays a midfield three.
Paul Scholes was speculating on whether ETH will be more pragmatic against City and play with an extra midfielder, which you almost feel is essential if we're not going to get massacred. Except, as he says, ETH tends to stick with his attacking philosophy and you wonder where the goals will come from if he plays a midfield three.
Astonished at how poor Chelsea were. And for parts of the game, we matched them at being shit. For other parts, we were pretty good.
Maybe its just bad memories from years gone by. I've hated playing Chelsea since the oil money came.
Anyway, they're abysmal now and will be back to mid table again.
looked more like a game of Fifa tbh. Both teams were horrible on the defensive side
Sorry, Sancho was rubbish. No more rubbish at United please. He seems lost. He doesn't affect the game, it's like he's had a lobotomy and has forgotten how to play football. Nothing to his game, no authority, nothing.
Big wages though.
Delighted with the result, nice to see them score a few goals for a change
The game was too open for my liking though, we weren't compact enough as a team...
I'd be surprised if ten Hag sets the team up like that against City in the Cup Final...otherwise we could get battered again.
The game was too open for my liking though, we weren't compact enough as a team...
I'd be surprised if ten Hag sets the team up like that against City in the Cup Final...otherwise we could get battered again.
If you're seeing "not enough", you're watching attentively. If you're seeing "nothing", you're not. Even if you don't mean it literally. There's an assist, for starters. Quite a few other good offensive involvements too - as well as quite a few bad ones. All in all, at most a relatively okayish performance. Which is not enough, but also not "lost" or "nothing".
I really don't think that was Bruno's best game (or even a particularly good game from him), and I think Antony mainly worried ETH. But otherwise agree.
I'd add that Shaw had a lousy game, before being substituted. And that Eriksen was excellent in his forward passing, but also somewhat overmatched defensively.
4-1 home win, next to last game of the season, moves us up to third, will take that any day.
However there were worries, in particular when we were on the offensive in the first half we wasted chances yet again and were vulnerable to breakaways. In truth in the first half Chelsea might had at least three goals, despite De Gea not having to make one save, but they were not just bad but awful in front of goal.
Second half we worked the counter-attack massively well and this time notched up the goals. De Gea did finally have to make some good saves and he did. Reckon Newcastle will give Chelsea lots more pain on Sunday. So a one goal win, going in off somebody's backside will do against Fulham
However there were worries, in particular when we were on the offensive in the first half we wasted chances yet again and were vulnerable to breakaways. In truth in the first half Chelsea might had at least three goals, despite De Gea not having to make one save, but they were not just bad but awful in front of goal.
Second half we worked the counter-attack massively well and this time notched up the goals. De Gea did finally have to make some good saves and he did. Reckon Newcastle will give Chelsea lots more pain on Sunday. So a one goal win, going in off somebody's backside will do against Fulham
I'd noticed that. Between the boxes they look quite a decent team, but in each box they are appallingly bad.
I'm sure with a proper manager/coach they will improve next season, but they certainly need to get rid of a whole host of players, and I'm pretty sure that whoever the new boss is, he will have his own ideas about players required for the team.
Mudryk’s was the only sitter imo. Havertz should have done better, but the ball was low and behind him a bit. Don’t think that was a clear sitter. Definitely don’t think Gallagher’s was an expected goal opportunity. Wouldn’t be shocking for a player to score from that position, but it wasn’t a gimme either.
First half was like a game between 2 teams with issues in defending, the second we were very good.
Just the perfect result. Bruno deserves special mention and also Sancho.
Just the perfect result. Bruno deserves special mention and also Sancho.
It's odd... I think Bruno's been quite poor this season while others have hm close to player of the year. I thought he was very involved with build-up play last night, without doing anything superb - and, generally speaking, got on without without moaning too much.
I agree about Shaw... I'm still not 100% convinced by him or AWB... have a feeling they were why Chelsea created so many chances
Did you think we should have had a penalty earlier in the game?
On balance, probably more no than yes. It wouldn't have been wrong, but it would have been pretty soft, by the standards refs are currently applying.
I thought the whole back 4 looked pretty messy as a unit, like they were trying to play man-marking against a Chelsea team who kept overloading. There was constantly a lot of space on the flanks, but that may have been by design rather than through any sins of omission by the FBs. AWB got caught upfield a few times, but he also had some strong, decisive interventions, and at least a little bit of presence going forward. Shaw looked very passive in his defending to me, was played past a few times and as far as I registered contributed almost nothing of note on the ball. An uncharacteristically weak game from him.
I can see both sides to this tbh, because parts of the first half were worrying, but I think a lot of the negative people are ignoring that part of the reason Chelsea were able to look so dangerous in that period is because they committed a ridiculous amount of people forward, which meant they were always exposed to a 3 on 2 when we won the ball back… I mean we could’ve been further up in the first half if our attackers weren’t idiots, because no sensible team plays like that … because they end up conceding 4 goals even if they do look quite threatening.
Basically Chelsea played the whole first half like the last 10 minutes of a game they were losing. It made them look quite good, but also directly contributed to why they lost and no “good team” is going to approach a game like that.
OT was absolutely bouncing last night. Great to see
We scored 4, should have scored 3 or 4 more.
At the same time, there were times when they took us apart easily and the result could have been different.
The thing I take out of this game despite a positive result is how they dominated possession. There were times again when we could barely string more than three passes together before gifting possession back to them.
In the cup final, to have any chance of winning we need to secure at least 50% of the ball. If we gift more than an even share of the ball to City they will make us pay. They will surely take there chances whereas Chelsea did not.
At the same time, there were times when they took us apart easily and the result could have been different.
The thing I take out of this game despite a positive result is how they dominated possession. There were times again when we could barely string more than three passes together before gifting possession back to them.
In the cup final, to have any chance of winning we need to secure at least 50% of the ball. If we gift more than an even share of the ball to City they will make us pay. They will surely take there chances whereas Chelsea did not.
Feels weird to complain when we win... and also manage to score 4 goals in one single game. But hell, even Southampton would've scored 2-3 goals on the chances they had in the first half... thank f*ck it was Chelesa!
Top centre forward and a decent coach will go a long way towards sorting them out. Bit like us really. Question is, can their American halfwit owners do better than our American halfwit owners in the summer?
After the 2 games previously were we controlled these games and scored 1 in each this game was so so different, Chelsea imo were very good at times, and should have scored more, as of us we should have wrapped it up early doors again ,scoring in added time in 1st half was against run of play.
The 4 goals were great to see and should have been more, the inconsistencies in the 3 games is a bit of a worry, maybe it's the way Eth wanted to go in this game? I don't think so. Happy were in CL for next season. The Antony injury is a big miss. FA cup we need to turn up.
The 4 goals were great to see and should have been more, the inconsistencies in the 3 games is a bit of a worry, maybe it's the way Eth wanted to go in this game? I don't think so. Happy were in CL for next season. The Antony injury is a big miss. FA cup we need to turn up.
Oh but they did. Salah was glued to the screen and couldn’t wait to Tweet about the result and everything
We needed goals and we finally got some. Hopefully this will give us confidence vs City.
- I can't think of one striker who would not shoot first time for that great opportunity by Martial in the first half. The pass was accurate with good pace and somehow he thinks he can take a touch with two defenders near him. I really hope we sell him in the summer and I hope he gets lucky and gets a goal in the final.
- Sancho is almost a fun player to watch.
- I hope some rest for Bruno will see him in good form vs City. If he plays like that I don't think we have a chance. A good Bruno will give us a slight chance.
- Too bad for Antony. The good news is this will likely mean Garnacho will start the final. Why not? He'll provide a better threat than Sancho on the right.
- Casemiro almost back to his best...just a few misplaced passes.
- I can't think of one striker who would not shoot first time for that great opportunity by Martial in the first half. The pass was accurate with good pace and somehow he thinks he can take a touch with two defenders near him. I really hope we sell him in the summer and I hope he gets lucky and gets a goal in the final.
- Sancho is almost a fun player to watch.
- I hope some rest for Bruno will see him in good form vs City. If he plays like that I don't think we have a chance. A good Bruno will give us a slight chance.
- Too bad for Antony. The good news is this will likely mean Garnacho will start the final. Why not? He'll provide a better threat than Sancho on the right.
- Casemiro almost back to his best...just a few misplaced passes.
I was there last night and it was a really good open game to watch. Both sides missed a bag full of chances, but fortunately United defended better than Chelsea did. Great to secure CL qualification, especially at the expense of the Scousers. We even gave them a 7-0 win and they still couldn't qualify 
I don't think Garnacho will start. He doesn't know his defensive responsibilities well enough to start against City. Shaw would get over-run behind him. Antony's injury will make the problem of wingers not tracking back even worse.
Casemiro was awesome again; what a buy hes turned out to be!
I thought it was a strange performance in that regard.
If Chelsea had got 3 first half we couldn't have complained. Though we could have had the same...3-3 at half time wouldn't be have been a ridiculous score line.
A piss poor Chelsea side came to Old Trafford and had more of the call and got at our back 4 on numerous occasions...all while walking through our midfield.
I really don't know what some people were watching tbh. I will take that big win all day long...but there were significant worrying periods that show that we are far from being anywhere near the finished article.
We can be got at very easily, by bang average teams.
Congratulations to Manchester United on qualifying for the Champions Leauge next season. Casemiro has been a rock in your team, world class.
Man of the Match
Runners-up
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7%
Victor Lindelof
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5%
Jadon Sancho
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2%
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
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2%
Bruno Fernandes
Player Ratings
Total Average Rating
Highest Rated Player
Lowest Rated Player
Compiled from 238 ratings.
Score Predictions
139,14,42
- Man Utd win
- Chelsea win
- Draw
Detailed Results
- 24% Man Utd 2:0 Chelsea
- 16% Man Utd 1:0 Chelsea
- 13% Man Utd 2:1 Chelsea
- 11% Man Utd 1:1 Chelsea
- 8% Man Utd 0:0 Chelsea
- 6% Man Utd 3:0 Chelsea
- 6% Man Utd 3:1 Chelsea
- 3% Man Utd 0:1 Chelsea
- 3% Man Utd 2:2 Chelsea
- 2% Man Utd 3:2 Chelsea
- 2% Man Utd 1:2 Chelsea
- 2% Man Utd 0:2 Chelsea
- 2% Man Utd 4:1 Chelsea
- 2% Man Utd 5:0 Chelsea
- 1% Man Utd 4:0 Chelsea
- 1% Man Utd 0:4 Chelsea
- 1% Man Utd 0:9 Chelsea
- 1% Man Utd 8:0 Chelsea
Match Stats
- Man Utd
- Chelsea
- Possession
- 41% 59%
- Shots
- 18 14
- Shots on Target
- 9 5
- Corners
- 3 4
- Fouls
- 12 6
Referee
Stuart Attwell
Man Utd Lineup
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replaced by Tyrell Malacia
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replaced by Scott McTominay
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replaced by Fred
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replaced by Alejandro Garnacho
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replaced by Marcus Rashford
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