[Post Match Review] Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (1)

As the end of the season, both Manchester United and Chelsea have their own goals. Manchester United is about to face the UEL final and needs to do some adjustment through this game against Chelsea to offset the slump from the previous loss. Chelsea, on the other hand, needs to strive for as many points as possible in the league to secure a place in the UCL. Relying solely on the Europa Conference League title is far from enough. Therefore, both sides are eager to secure all three points in this game, and the tactical confrontation is intense.

Given that the UEl final will be held in the middle of next week, Manchester United's manager Ruben Amorim, while fielding most of his main players, also made some substitutions: Garancho and Manuel Ugarte did not start, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes formed the midfield partnership, and Mason Mount, Heilen and Amad Diallo made up the attacking line in the front. For Chelsea, due to Nikola Jackson's red card suspension, they can only field a young player as the center forward. Head coach Mareca continued his recent strategy, placing Neto in the wrong position and Madueke on the left flank.

After the game started, the visiting team Manchester United performed steadily. Although Chelsea managed to connect with Noni Madueke through the forward runs of their defensive midfielder Caisedo and Palmer's movement, Madueke's non-regular shots were not very effective. Manchester United quickly took control of the game's pace and focused particularly on attacking from the flanks.

The performance in the first ten minutes or so has exposed Chelsea's various shortcomings: around Hejlen, Tosin did not apply sufficient pressure; Midfield duels are often at a disadvantage, and low-level passing and receiving mistakes occur frequently. The front line, as the core area of Maresca's tactics, also suffered from low efficiency due to incorrect personnel arrangement. Palmer's performance previously relied on Nikola Jackson. In this game, the latter was absent, and the young player found it difficult to support his performance, resulting in a significant decrease in the offensive threat in the frontcourt.

Theoretically, Chelsea should have Madueke play as the right winger in this game, using his body to directly threaten the goal from the side corner, while Neto should play as the left winger to contain Manchester United's defense. However, as Neto had performed well in the backfoot position before, Chelsea managed to win a few games by chance. As a result, Mareca became complacent and continued with his original lineup. This led to the obstruction of Madueke and Neto's inside cuts in this game, and they were also repeatedly intercepted and counterattacked by Manchester United.

In the late of the first half, Chelsea could only rely on their two wingers to cross the ball one-on-one. Maduekai posed a slight threat on the left side against Noussair Mazraoui, while Neto's backheel cross from the right side failed to pose a threat to Manchester United's goal. Chelsea's most threatening attack in the first half came from Madueke's cross and full-back Reece James' long-range shot hitting the post. The winger, who was supposed to play with a straight foot, was arranged to cross the ball, and the full-back made a run forward to complete the shot, revealing the unreasonable tactical design of Chelsea.