Razor-sharp Reds Batter The Blues At Old Trafford

Did anyone bet on 4-0 today then? A surprising result but a very welcome one if you are from the red side of Manchester.

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I must admit, I've not been overly bullish in Manchester United's top 4 hopes this season and had planned for a season where reaching the top 6 could be a struggle. This could well still be the case, but today's performance has given me renewed hope.

It is too early to use this result as a guide though, even if The Reds were up against last seasons 3rd place finishers. Chelsea have switched coaches during the break, and have been banned from signing new players this summer due to Fifa imposing a transfer ban on the club regarding their signing of foreign under-18 players. They have also lost the 'talismatic' Sideshow Bob to London rivals just a few days ago...

And replaced him with the recalled Zouma, who'd been on loan at Everton for the 2018–19 season. And let us not forget the departure of one of the best players in the Premier League in recent seasons, Edin Hazard. He is clearly going to be a big miss for The Blues this year - not that I'm too upset about this :)

As for the reds, an excellent start to the new campaign!

In previous posts I've mentioned Ole siding towards youth this season, and Man United lined up today with the youngest starting XI in the opening round of the 2019-20 Premier League season with an average age 24 years and 227 days. And you could see that youth and exuberance out on the field, too much at times to be honest as Rashford, Pogba, and Martial gave the ball away more than once, but the energy of the team was there to see, especially on the break.

Chelsea had the better of the early exchanges, Abraham hitting the post with a fierce drive and Pedro looking lively (before disappearing for the rest of the game), but Zouma looked nervy at the back and he was the man at fault for the first goal with a clumsy challenge on Rashford.

Martial and Rashford have more to do goals-wise this season, scoring 'just' 10 each last year and now seen as the main forwards with the departure of Lukaku over the summer. Happily for Reds fans, they both started with goals today, Rashford bagging two, and if they can form a partnership and stay fit, teams are going to struggle with them on the counterattack.

Manchester United's big summer signing from Leicester, Harry Maguire was faultless. Commanding in the air, as well as making a number of timely interceptions, I was very impressed. Next captain? I think there is a chance. Two other summer signings, Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka also made an immediate impact. James scored on debut (with a slighly fortunate deflection), and Wan-Bissaka looked lively as wing-back. Maybe one day he'll be called the new Gary Neville, who knows :)

I'm sure many fans and naysayers were keen to see how Paul Pogba got on today, he is without doubt a talent as the World Cup winners medal will indicate, but can have his off days. I think today's performance was mixed, like other teammates, the flicks didn't really come off, but he did provide a driving force in midfield, and set two of the four goals up. I think how Ole man-manages him will be a key factor in how he and Manchester United perform this season.

De Gea was another player under close scrutiny at the end of last season and certainly wasn't at is best during the final few months of 2018/19. Today though, he dealt with everything and made a couple of excellent blocks. Hopefully he's back to his best for this year and will be a huge asset if that is the case.

Overall, United were excellent and looked sharp. I do think however that Chelsea were poor, especially in defense, and looked a long way off the team that finished in the top 3 last season. It's early days, but you wouldn't put your mortgage on the top 3 positions looking any different to this at the end of the season:

Cheers

Asher