Mourinho Needs to Change, Milan derby, Madrid, Newcastle.

Spoils shared at the Bridge

You could walk up to any football loving fan at all and they could guess the system Mourinho was going to employ versus Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Only this time, it seemed a necessary option. With everything going on around United, the last thing they needed was a humiliating defeat at the hands of a bitter rival.

To be fair, United didn’t entirely ‘park the bus’, but rather set up in a 4-5-1 (man marking key players in Chelsea’s set-up , Hazard and Jorginho) to catch Chelsea on the break. Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, who were expected to lead the counter attacks spent a lot of time in full back positions and when they did break through, the lack of support from a laid back United meant they had all to do up front. Also, whereas Chelsea’s 63%- 37% possession, portrayed a message of complete dominance, their low return of clear cut chances created -and their only shot on target in the first half being Antonio Rudiger’s 21st minute header- show a game that was more even than the statistics make it to look.

United switched things up in the second half and played without the handbrake on. The reward for their more attacking approach was the equaliser from Anthony Martial ten minutes into the second half. The goal seemed to have brought United out of their shell and for an 18-minute period, they attacked with intent and purpose. They got the lead in the 73rd minute and it was the least they deserved from a good period of play.

The positives for Jose Mourinho and his men is their reaction to going behind in the first half as seen in their last two games.

However, all indications point to the fact that majority of the players in this team are more comfortable with playing on the front foot and without the handbrake on. Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Paul Pogba are players who have benefited more from a more relaxed and expressive system as seen in the second halves of their last two games. It is time Jose Mourinho takes a cue from this and adopts a more proactive approach.

Chelsea needs their strikers to start firing

With Eden Hazard man marked and almost totally shut down for most periods of the game, Chelsea’s centre forwards needed to step up but they didn’t. For all their large amount of possession Chelsea had, Alvaro Morata managed only two shots, one off target and the other, a feeble effort from inside the area, that wouldn’t trouble David De Gea. Olivier Giroud came on later and couldn’t manage a single shot. They have a combined tally of two league goals this season with both coming from Morata. Whereas both strikers’ aerial abilities and link up play are very important to Maurizio Sarri’s system, they need to start getting the goals should Chelsea challenge for the title.

Icardi decides derby again

Mauro Icardi’s 92nd minute header was enough for Inter to clinch an all important derby win at the Guissepe Meazza on Sunday. A very tensed derby saw both sides go for it from the first minute. Both Milan and Inter had the ball in the net in the first half. Both times, they were ruled out, correctly, for offside. Inter saw most of the ball but were unable to create any meaningful clear cut chances with Milan captain Allessio Romagnoli keeping a close eye on Mauro Icardi. That battle was as keenly contested as the one between Gonzalo Higuain and Milan Skriniar at the other end. It took until the 92nd minute when a rare lapse in concentration from Mussachio and Donnarunma resulted in a failure to properly deal with a cross and Icardi was on hand to punish them. Much was expected from Milan’s number one of the last 3 seasons but it’s easy to cut him some slack, considering the young goalkeeper is just 19 with a lot more to learn. On the other hand, Icardi’s importance to Inter couldn’t be more emphasized. The Inter captain has proven to be as clinical as ever and feeds off relatively fewer chances as compared to other strikers. In Inter’s biggest games yet, against Tottenham and Milan, he has proven to be the difference with a goal in each game, where he saw very little of the ball. It will take a whole lot for Inter to keep him but you would be wrong to think it’s going to be easy to price their biggest asset from them.

De Bruyne return not doom for Bernardo Silva

Bernardo Silva was substituted in the 58th minute for the returning Kevin De Bruyne. City’s best player from last season endured an 8-week spell on the sidelines and returned on Saturday afternoon in a 5-0 win against Burnley for the champions. City have been comfortable within that time, recording 6 wins and 1 draw, scoring 22 goals and conceding 3. Pep employed a flat midfield in a 4-3-3 during his absence with Bernardo Silva, the most outstanding player in the system. The return of Kevin De Bruyne might not be the best for Bernardo but with a player of his versitality; his ability to play out wide, in a central midfield of 3 and in a box to box role, he should be able to survive, Also with Pep moulding him as a long term replacement to his namesake David, it isn’t all lost for him. On the other hand, one player that will be very much excited at the return of KDB is Sergio Aguero. The Argentine forward has been made to pick up deeper positions in a system where the central players directly behind him are farther behind. De Bruyne’s return provides an option in the hole behind Aguero, meaning he stays in the box more and has more opportunities to get in on goal. All the same, Pep will be very happy to have this kind of selection headache.

Lopetogui, a dead man walking?

Sergio Ramos issued out a rallying cry to get behind the manager after Madrid yet again lost 1-2 to Levante. Madrid are now winless in 5 games, their worst run of winless games since 2009,while Marcelo’s goal in the 73rd minute after a run of 481 minutes without a goal was Madrid’s worst run ever in their history. The return of Isco was supposed to be a breath of fresh air in this squad but the injury to Bale meant he was without yet another fully fit key player. Whether Sergio Ramos’ public display of support is enough to buy Lopetogui more time lives to be seen but the issues in Madrid continue to rear it’s ugly heads. This time, it might even just be beyond the manager.

Newcastle

Newcastle have recorded just 2 points from a possible 27. They are yet to win a game and Saturday’s loss to Brighton threatens to pile more pressure on coach Rafa Benitez and owner Mike Ashley. Rafa has the backing of the fans to his advantage having been given no significant backing in the transfer window. There seems to be no cutting edge in this team with Kennedy, the closest to a reliable goal threat. The decision to let go of Mitrovic and Gayle, seems to be a bad decision now with Joselu and Ayoze Perez struggling in front of goal. Also, new signing Muto, just recently got off the mark. In conclusion, Newcastle’s record transfer fee is the £16m paid for Michael Owen as far back as 2005 and that tells the entire story of how poorly Mike Ashley has led the club. Worrying times in the north east for all Geordies and as early as the season is, it seems they are in for a relegation battle.

Bonus.

After Ross Barkley’s leveler late on against United, the Chelsea bench went into a frenzy and one man strayed away from the Chelsea bench with joy and ecstacy and then seemed to have transferred that frenzy to the United bench; only that it was a negative one. Marco Ianni seemed to have taken the celebrations too far as he seemed to have either made a derogatory remark or gesture towards the United boss. Mourinho didnt take it lightly atall and threatened to confront Ianni amidst a crowd of technical coaches and players from both sides restraining the Portugese. It remains to be seen if Marco Ianni ( one of Sarri’s backroom staff working as an analyst) would be punished after referee Mike Dean included the incident in his post game report. Maurizio Sarri in his post match press conference said that Mourinho deserved a little bit more respect from the Chelsea fans and said that both he (Sarri ) and Ianni have apologized to the Portugese. Mourinho on his part confirmed that both Sarri and Ianni rendered their apologies after the match in the dressing room and accepted the apology during his press conference.

Avot.