Manchester United looked flat in today’s FA Cup semi-finals defeat to rivals Chelsea, the Red Devils faithful will be hoping that the 3-1 loss doesn’t dent the side’s momentum in the run-in of the league.
The first-half was a fairly closely contest, in which both sides struggled to craft clear-cut chances, Chelsea did a pretty good job of limiting Bruno Fernandes’ impact.
The west London outfit snatched the lead on the brink of halftime when the Blues made United pay for being lax with their defending on the flanks, as Olivier Giroud poked a low cross into the back of the net.
Immediately after the second-half started, United found themselves 2-0 down when David de Gea made a shocking error in stopping Mason Mount’s fairly average long-range effort after Brandon Williams gave the ball away in a dangerous area.
Chelsea then extended their lead in the 73rd minute after United once again failed to pay attention to the Blues’ marauding full-back’s, Harry Maguire turned the ball into his own net after a low cross.
Fernandes did grab a consolation goal from the penalty spot with five minutes of regulation to spare after Anthony Martial was brought down by a carless challenge from Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Here’s how some of the United faithful reacted to the disappointing performance:
Bin Maguire.
— ? (@ConnMUFC) July 19, 2020
Harry Maguire should be stripped of the captaincy.
— Sunny Saharan ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (@Sunny____123) July 19, 2020
Embarrassing.
— Ryan. ? (@Vintage_Utd) July 19, 2020
This is what we deserve for Signing Maguire for 80m & making him club captain.
This is what we deserve when fans are gassing up the manager & team for going 19 games unbeaten.
This what we deserve for bringing in a PE teacher to supposedly bring us to title winning days again— AdamLUHG? (@adam__bahati) July 19, 2020
What an embarassment.
Every single player dropped nothing more than 3/10.
Romero is a loyal servant. De Gea should leave and we give Romero a full Premier league season.
And by then, Dean Henderson will be ready.— ????? ????????? (@Rooney84904575) July 19, 2020
De Gea needs to be sold now, getting absolutely ridiculous the amount of mistakes he makes
— Ryan Bennett (@ryanjbennett_) July 19, 2020
NEVER PLAY DE GEA AGAIN! Romero needs to start vs west ham on Wednesday. Never start James again, and buy a centre back, cause 80 million Maguire isn’t even better than Johny Evans.
— Sheikh Bruno (Deactivating) (@awakenthedeen) July 19, 2020
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men now host relegation candidates West Ham on Wednesday night, before closing out their Premier League campaign in a crucial clash against Leicester City.
The final top four spot could be decided by who comes out on top at the King Power Stadium, fortunately for United, Leicester have been in shocking form since the top-flight’s restart.
It’s clear that Maguire’s performances haven’t consistently been at the level to justify his mammoth price-tag, but was the England international really one of United’s worse on the pitch today?
The Red Devils were punished for individual errors, they failed to track Chelsea’s attacking wing-backs and a costly error from David de Gea didn’t help their case at all.
United boast one of the most technically-gifted attacking ranks in the top-flight, but the side need to drastically improve in defence if they’re serious about becoming a force again anytime soon.