Clinical Chelsea leave Mourinho’s Manchester United reeling

The numbers from Sunday’s match suggested the Red Devils were in control of their fixture, but a heavy defeat leaves them with more questions to answer

Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge did not only prove to be an unhappy one – it verged on embarrassing fo the Manchester United boss, who watched his side suffer a chastening 4-0 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Prior to the game there had been speculation he may ‘park the bus’ against his former side, yet Pedro’s goal in the first minute ensured that the Red Devils would have to adopt a more offensive strategy. When Gary Cahill battered home from a corner 20 minutes later, United were forced to play a game they probably would not have wished.

Trailing 2-0, the visiting side were forced to take the initiative and attack. It resulted in them dominating the game statistically, with the Red Devils achieving 56 per cent of possession. This may sound like a positive, yet it invited Chelsea to set counterattacking traps for their guests, and these would be exploited in the second half through Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante.

Perhaps the most interesting statistic shows that United actually outshot their opponents 12 to nine. The quality of these efforts was critical, though.

One look at the shooting pattern from Mourinho’s men shows that five – that’s nearly half of their total – were taken from a good deal outside the box. Although three of these efforts were on target, they forced Thibaut Courtois into little more than routine saves, highlighting the frustrating time that the visitors were having trying to breakdown Chelsea’s three-man rearguard.

Those shots that United took from inside the area were not accurate enough – there is a glut of efforts that were fired over the top from close range.

By contrast, Chelsea’s two early goals allowed them to better pick and choose their moments. They might only have attempted nine shots over the course of the game, but all of these were from dangerous areas and all of the four goals they scored came from well inside the box.

Indeed, the Blues’ platform meant that they trailed United in every major statistic in the Goal+ matrix with the exception of tackle success rate. Yet it suited Antonio Conte’s side to set up almost like the away team, and the luxury of scoring twice in the first quarter of the match allowed them to do just that.

Mourinho was forced into playing a game that was more expansive than he would have wished, and his players failed to come up with the answers.