The Red Devils made merry of The Blues in the Chelsea Vs United contest at Stamford Bridge in their FA cup 5th round clash on Tuesday. The Red Devils seemed to have regained their mojo back with a convincing 2-0 win over Chelsea, after a shock 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford last week against PSG.
United were the last team to make way through to the quarterfinals where they’re about to face Wolves away, next month.
Solskjaer as expected, made as many as four changes to the side that lost to PSG. De Gea was replaced by Sergio Romero at the goal, Chris Smalling in place of Eric Bailly and the injured duo of Lingard and Martial was replaced by Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku respectively.
A notable exclusion for the Chelsea Vs United game was that of Alexis Sanchez who seemed in fine rhythm even though he hasn’t got much to show for it. Given his exclusion, it was inevitable that he might be brought in to make a mark at any point, which is exactly what happened.
United launched of on the front foot and seemed right at it, from the opening whistle itself. It was a clear statement of intent, that this team under their interim manager are a different package. They do not carry any baggage of their past and are matured enough to take it one game at a time and pave their way forward into the season.
United seemed to epitomise the mantra to be successful as a club with their crisp and long range passes and dangerous penetrations from either side. They simply did not look like a team that had just lost a crucial home leg and where on the verge of getting knocked out from Europe’s premier competition.
The Red Devils always looked like scoring and they eventually did on the back of an exquisite curled ball from Paul Pogba on the middle where Ander Herrera completed the formalities by finding the net from close range.
With the opposition down and out, the Frenchman then further ensured that they wouldn’t rise again, by scoring with a spectacular header past Kepa assisted by a miraculous run by Rashford on the right.
Alexis Sanchez was eventually brought in for Romelu Lukaku in the 73rd minute and looked good throughout. However eventually the Chelsea Vs United game ended with 2 goals for Manchester United which where enough to see them through to the next round where they will be up against Wolves for a semifinal spot in the FA Cup.
Also, speaking after the Chelsea Vs United match, the Man with golden feet, the man of the moment Paul Pogba was ecstatic about the win. He was quoted as saying:
“It was a beautiful win. A great performance from the team. It wasn’t easy but we did it and we are really pleased. The team helped me to get to my best.”
“They help me to score goals and make assists. If he doesn’t make the run I can’t play the ball.”
“We are Manchester United and we play to win trophies. The manager trusts us and we trust him. We play to win”
Ander Herrera saw himself going on the scoresheet with a fantastic close-range header. He spoke to the press after the Chelsea Vs United game and was quoted as saying:
“They have a fantastic team so we had to fight until the end. I played a more offensive role because we knew they are struggling at this end of the bench.”
“I would like to speak about Alexis, Andreas, and Scott, the way they came into the game. A world-class player like Alexis, the way he fought, this is Manchester United.”
Solskjaer pointed out the criticism he faced after the PSG defeat and was pretty aware of what has to be done
“We had criticism after the PSG game and everyone did what we asked tonight, The performance was fantastic, our tactics worked,”
“We asked our midfielders to press higher and get into the box and it worked. The defending in the second half was fantastic. Chelsea is a good team. They have their way of playing but Juan Mata did a fantastic job on Jorginho and we were absolutely perfect defensively.”
“It is a massive result.”.
Chelsea fans were distraught throughout the game with chants going against their Manager Maurizio Sarri, demanding his sack. This dampening situation at the club was well capitalised to good effect by the Red Devils as they never looked like playing catch up to Chelsea.
The Fans all over wish a kind future for Chelsea and hope that they rise well from this situation so we can once again witness more mouth-watering contests in the future like the days of Jose and Sir Alex.
