United was shocked when they lost to Chelsea in a seven-goal battle at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag made three changes to the United team that played Brentford on Saturday and tied 1-1.
Victor Lindelof, Marcus Rashford, and Scott McTominay were replaced by Harry Maguire, Antony, and Casemiro.
Four goals were scored in the first 45 minutes. Chelsea took an early 2-0 lead, but Man United came back to tie the game before halftime.
The home team couldn’t hold out against United, who scored three goals—two from Alejandro Garnacho and one from Bruno Fernandes.
The Blues scored two goals in the 10th and 11th minutes of extra time to steal all three points, and the roof of Stamford Bridge went off.
These are the three things we want to talk about from this game.
Fans of neither Chelsea nor United had a great time watching the games. It was more like a basketball game, and both teams relied on counterattacks a lot.
In the past few years, this matchup has been dull, but tonight was different.
It was a smooth start for the hosts as Conor Gallagher led it home early. Antony was called for a foul in the box, and Cole Palmer scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-0.
With a header, Bruno Fernandes gave the traveling fans a chance to speak out. Garnacho then got United back into the game.
United’s comeback was finished by Antony’s beautiful pass to Garnacho, but the drama didn’t stop there.
In the 10th minute of extra time, Diogo Dalot made a terrible mistake that gave Chelsea their second penalty of the night. Palmer, who used to play for Man City, easily put the ball past Onana again.
He scored his third goal after only one minute when his shot bounced off of Onana and there was no way for him to stop it.
The winger from Brazil worked hard to keep the ball in play, which led to Garnacho’s first goal. He was very important because he changed the play that led to Fernandes’ goal.
When he passed the ball outside of his boot to the Argentine winger, he was at his best and scored the goal.
A lot of people laughed when he was picked for the starting lineup, but he ended up being United’s best player.
There was no giving up for Garnacho. He kept going after Malo Gusto. A bad pass from Moises Caicedo was quickly picked off by him.
It took a lot of courage for the kid to run with the ball and beat the goalie.
He clearly deserved both of his goals tonight, but he would be upset to lose.
He has now started 30 games in a row for the Red Devils in all tournaments. He needs to keep this up at least until the end of the season.
The fight showed how far apart Chelsea and United are in terms of how stable and reliable they are.
Ten Hag’s future is already uncertain, and the outcome of tonight’s game won’t help his case. Should United have won 3-2, it would have moved them closer to the Champions League spots.
The Red Devils lost all three points, though, because they played terrible defense and didn’t commit at the end.
In the last minute of the game, when Chelsea took the short corner, no one from United was paying attention.
They seemed at ease in the second half, but their lack of focus cost them important points and maybe even their chances of playing in the Champions League next season.
Since both Aston Villa and Tottenham lost points, it was a great chance for Manchester United to close the gap.
But after this loss, they are now in sixth place, 11 points behind Villa in fourth place, with only eight games left to play.
