Manchester United suffered their 18th Premier League defeat of the season on Friday, as Chelsea emerged 1-0 winners at Stamford Bridge.
Ruben Amorim picked almost his best XI for the clash in London, but to no avail as the team limped to yet another defeat ahead of their season-defining Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur in five days’ time.
The approach taken by the Portuguese tactician and Ange Postecoglou could not have been more different, with the Spurs boss choosing to rest his heavy hitters while United opted to field almost all of them.
Thankfully, there were no injuries but the performance was another disaster, against a poor Chelsea side who were quite ordinary themselves.
Rasmus shocking again
The game was once again a clear indicator that both Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana do not deserve to play for a club like United but they are not only here, they are odds-on to start in Bilbao.
The Dane, arguably one of the worst recent buys in the club’s history, managed 0 dribbles, 0 shots and won 0 ground duels, yet played the full 90 minutes against the Blues.
And with Chido Obi ineligible and Joshua Zirkzee still sidelined, Hojlund is expected to start once again in the Europa League final.
Centre-back Harry Maguire was again showed more instinct inside the box as he netted a fine volley only for it to be adjudged off-side by an inch.
Onana poor
As for the goalkeeper, he could do nothing for the goal, but he messed up a routine save in the first-half as he knocked the ball back into the danger area only for Enzo Fernandez to scuff his effort.
He was off-side anyway so it would not have counted but his penchant for parrying balls into the danger area is something that has cost the Red Devils time and time again this season.
He almost conceded a penalty as well, needlessly rushing out to smother a ball but he just did enough to win the ball ahead of the Chelsea striker. The referee had initially pointed to the spot but eventually overturned his decision.
Heading into the biggest game in the club’s recent history on the back of another defeat is not the ideal preparation but the club have shown that they are a different beast in Europe.
Hopefully, Amorim can rally the troops and get over the line in the final. His future depends on it!
Feature image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
