The Blues recovered from a slow first half and responded after defeats to Tottenham and Liverpool. – Xabi Alonso has revealed details of his half-time message to the Chelsea squad that helped inspire the win over Manchester United.
The Blues inflicted even more misery on Man Utd and pressured manager Michael Carrick in Saturday’s Premier League heavyweight clash at Stamford Bridge, winning 2-0.
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It was a much-needed response from Chelsea to what had otherwise been a difficult week, with Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final ending in a penalty shootout against Liverpool – right after only their second league home defeat to arch-rivals Tottenham in 36 years.
Morgan Rogers opened the scoring with a brilliant solo goal five minutes after half-time, before Cole Palmer – back from the quarantine that kept him out at Anfield – scored the penalty after a foul on Wesley Fofana by Lisandro Martinez. The Argentine received two yellow cards in just 83 seconds and left the crisis-ridden United with ten men for over 25 minutes.
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The impressive Estevao also had two goals disallowed for offside in a rare start this season, while United goalkeeper Senne Lammens made several great saves as well as big misses from Palmer and substitute Valentin Barco, among others.
Although the result should have been clearer in the end, Chelsea certainly didn’t get everything they wanted at the start, with United delivering a much better first half.
They were unlucky not to go to half-time with a lead after being the better team, and Matheus Cunha’s header from close range was also cancelled out for offside.
Nevertheless, Chelsea then dominated – also grateful to Mike Penders for an extraordinary save in injury time that beat Bryan Mbeumo’s powerful long-range shot into the crossbar – to regain momentum under Alonso and climb back to fourth in the Premier League table before fifth-placed Liverpool host second-placed Arsenal in a big game at Anfield on Sunday.
Asked what message he had given to his players at half-time, Alonso said: “We said at half-time that we were going to win this game with the ball.
“So the improvement has been with the ball, the message has been to get better with the ball, not to give away so much, to change something tactically – but we were more comfortable on the pitch, we looked more controlled, and that’s when you feel better with the ball, and usually you’re also better at defending.”
