Chelsea 4 Manchester United 0
For José Mourinho, perhaps the only tiny consolation from a traumatic day is that the Chelsea crowd were not impertinent enough to barrack the returning manager or gloat at his misfortune. They didn’t sing his name until the fourth goal went in and when the public announcer mentioned his name it was a strange kind of indifference bearing in mind, as he frequently reminds us, nobody else has brought more trophies or drama to this stadium. Nothing, however, will have hurt Mourinho more than his team’s performance, or the impression it left that his current Manchester United team are a long way behind the great Chelsea sides he once managed.
It was certainly remarkable to see a side that defended with such resilience at Anfield last Monday suddenly look so vulnerable and accident prone. Chelsea were ahead before any player in red had even touched the ball and that early breakthrough, timed at 29 seconds, set the tone for the most satisfying victory of Antonio Conte’s short reign at Stamford Bridge and, for Mourinho, the most galling experience since cutting his ties with the London club.
For the most part, he was remarkably undemonstrative, hands firmly pressed in his pockets, while a few yards to his left Conte could be seen doing his best impression of a Duracell bunny. Occasionally, though, Mourinho would just hold out his arms, as if asking his players what was going on. He has rarely looked so helpless and it was almost a surprise Chelsea did not add even more goals after N’Golo Kanté had turned past the bewildered Chris Smalling to crack in the fourth goal, with 20 minutes still to play. Gary Neville, in his television role, described United’s defending as “garbage” and Chelsea found great joy exposing their opponents on the day the London club marked the 20th anniversary of Matthew Harding’s death.
Perhaps an argument could be made that Mourinho could have been spared the ordeal if David Luiz had been sent off for a studs-up challenge on Marouane Fellaini that surely warranted a red card rather than the yellow that the referee, Martin Atkinson, brandished. Yet it would be clutching at straws to cling to that moment. They were already two goals down by that stage and the game had not even reached the half-hour mark before Mourinho sent out his substitutes to warm up, as if contemplating changes.
Chelsea moved the ball with speed and purpose. They are unbeaten now in their last 11 fixtures against United and there were “olés” from their crowd in that period, at 4-0, when Conte removed Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, two of the chief tormentors. Kanté is starting to look like the all-action hero who helped Leicester City to the title. Costa is always better when he plays to his strengths rather than picking fights with opposition defenders and, though the Premier League’s leading marksman did not score, he was prominently involved in breaking down
United did sporadically threaten but no team can defend this generously and expect to get away with it. Costa might be the first opponent this season who has brushed off Eric Bailly. Blind looked particularly susceptible on the left of defence. Bailly went off five minutes into the second half with an injury and Smalling will have to accept a degree of liability for three of the goals. Smalling wears the captain’s armband in the absence of Wayne Rooney, missing here through injury, but Kante beat him far too easily and, eight minutes earlier, Hazard had also eluded him in the penalty area. Hazard had threatened all afternoon and that passing exchange, involving Kante and Nemanja Matic, cut United open.
Conte’s only complaint seemed to be that the crowd were not making enough noise in the last few minutes but, that apart, he can take great satisfaction from the way the game panned out once Pedro had opened the scoring with an eccentric goal.
Costa took the kick-off, Chelsea embarked on some routine keep-ball possession inside their own half and the ball went to one side and then back again. It was the kind of scene that happens every week, with one set of players getting an early feel of the ball. But then Gary Cahill gave Marcos Alonso a go and it must have been startling for Mourinho to see what happened next. Alonso’s long pass from the left touchline gave Pedro something to chase but Chris Smalling and Daley Blind made it much easier for him than it should have been.
Blind was the first to dither as Pedro dart behind him. Smalling seemed to think Blind would get there first and, to give him the benefit of the doubt, might also have been distracted by the sudden appearance of David de Gea, charging out of his penalty area when it would have been much wiser to stay put. Pedro deserves the credit for his speed and anticipation, running from left to right to get to the ball first, but from a United perspective it was a succession of mistakes. Pedro’s first touch took him wide of De Gea, leaving the goalkeeper hopelessly exposed, and the Spaniard made the left-foot finish look easier than it probably was.
The second goal came in the 21 minute when Hazard swung over a corner and the ball thudded off Ander Herrera, leaving Gary Cahill a chance on the volley. His shot struck Blind on the way into the goal and Conte was haring down the touchline, screaming with joy. Chelsea did not quite match their 5-0 victory against United from October 1999 but they had shown Mourinho they can get by without him. He looked shellshocked.
(Guardian service)
