FA Cup semi-final clash between Manchester United and Chelsea: Match Report

Manchester United vs Chelsea FA Cup Semi-Final

Two huge keeping errors from Manchester United’s Number 1 provide Chelsea with an FA Cup Final place.

David de Gea is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, but his performance last night in the 3-1 defeat versus Chelsea proves that even the best can have bad days at the office.

A long ranged drilled effort from Mason Mount, which came about from a misplaced and ultimately intercepted pass from fullback Brandon Williams, was heading straight towards de Gea for him to make, (what should have been) a fairly routine save, only for the ball to slide underneath his hands to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead 2 minutes into the second half.

There are two things to consider from this scenario, first being the misplaced back pass.  At this level and in such an important game, this level of defending incompetence is unacceptable and whilst it can be argued that it is unacceptable at any level of game, it exposed a lack of defensive experience which Manchester United and Brandon Williams simply don’t have the time to learn from as the end of the season approaches.

The first half was fairly uneventful with no clear dominance from either team and chances at each end being a tit for tat affair.  Eric Bailly went down injured during added time after a nasty clash of heads with his own team mate Harry Maguire, (and let’s be honest that’s some head to clash with!) causing a pause in the play and again bringing communication and defensive experience in to question.

Antony Martial came on for Bailly and looked to have given Manchester United new attacking hope, until in the 56^th minute Olivier Giroud scored from a whipped cross from a wide position.

Again, questions should be asked about de Gea’s ability to read the game and analyse the potential threat of developing attacks as, if we’re honest, it wasn’t a strong flick towards goal from Giroud.

As the second half began and Mount scored Chelsea’s second, it seemed the Londoners were on top as they began to dominate the play, whilst United still hadn’t woken up.

Harry Maguire’s own goal in the 74^th minute seemed to put the game to bed but hope came through effective trickery from Martial causing an unquestionable foul in the box providing a penalty for Manchester United which Bruno Fernandes neatly tucked home in the 85^th minute.

Overall, this was a solid performance from Chelsea provided them with a deserved cup final place.  United now need to regroup and reconsider their defensive tactics if they are going to make the grade and reach Europe from the last two games of the season.  As for de Gea, he needs to need to take a hard look at himself and consider whether the errors he made were because his head and his heart belong to another team.