And you may play with your foolish machines all night long. After this tense and exciting match, the iPads and the strategy boards were put away. Graham Potter and Erik ten Hag contemplated the 1-1 draw from the sidelines, looking exhausted and possibly even a little concussed. It had been a game of stratagems and counter-strategy, with coaches attempting to control the space on the field with their thoughts.
But ultimately, this is a contact sport, a matter of guts and loins, of inches and millimeters, of who can win the grapple and have the nerve to leap the highest when everything is at stake.
Over the years, there have been more significant matches between Chelsea and Manchester United. Louder games. More entertaining and superior games. But probably never before has a game felt more like an intellectual exercise and been so proud of its intelligence.
As Potter and Ten Hag exchanged blows on the sidelines, the evening began to fragment, becoming not so much a single football game as several individual campaigns, a never-ending and enthralling struggle for dominance in which both teams likely received what they deserved.
Perhaps there was a touch of bitter poetry in the fact that it was late substitute Scott McTominay who conceded Chelsea’s penalty with an ugly grapple, and Casemiro who ultimately bailed him out with a soaring header in the 93rd minute. This is a quickly changing United squad, and nowhere is the transformation more pronounced than in the midfield.
McTominay will undoubtedly play a role in the upcoming months, and Fred’s superb performance against Tottenham last week was additional proof of his personal development. In tone and intent, though, the period of “McFred” appears to have long since passed.
Casemiro. Christian Eriksen. Bruno Fernandes. This is the first United midfield since the days of Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick that you would voluntarily pay to watch. And when it does function, everything else functions marginally better. The full-backs have the confidence to advance.
The front three can confidently make runs knowing they will receive service. David de Gea has additional choices available to him. The center becomes an area where United seeks to funnel the ball, as opposed to – as it was so frequently in the previous decade – an engine for funneling the ball elsewhere.
This is a change in both culture and personnel. United possessed 53% of the possession, but their ambition and composure on the ball were more significant. You could pinpoint the moment Casemiro grabbed control under pressure, 20 yards from his own goal, facing the wrong way, and just clipped a silky pass 30 yards over Raheem Sterling’s head and into the path of Diogo Dalot to launch another attack. Can you even fathom McTominay, Nemanja Matic, or Marouane Fellaini trying or completing such a pass?
Or the moment on the half-hour mark when Eriksen stole the ball from Ruben Loftus-Cheek high up the field, Casemiro recovered it, and Fernandes made a run off of him, and for a moment the three of them were jetting off in tandem, like a little lightspeed triangle, creating a chance for Marcus Rashford that Kepa Arrizabalaga saved.
With Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek being overrun, Potter was compelled to take action. The addition of Mateo Kovacic and the transition to a 4-3-3 formation resulted in Chelsea’s strongest period of play. On the touchline, Ten Hag glared at his miniature tactics board, engaged his assistant Mitchell van der Gaag in a lengthy discussion, and planned his reaction.
Fred replaced Jadon Sancho early in the second half, becoming Chelsea’s third center midfielder and their fourth overall. Momentarily, we were confronted with the arresting prospect of ten Hag and Potter simply putting more and more midfielders onto the field, until all 20 outfield players were playing a frantic rondo in the center circle as the two goalkeepers stood by silently.
Not exactly as it transpired, but the outcome was roughly comparable. Over the course of thirty minutes, the two teams exchanged tiring punches, optimistic crosses, failed counterattacks, and two sloppy late goals.
And even amid the late drama, it was evident that Ten Hag’s team is still maturing, training their instincts, and is not yet complete. However, they now have an excellent coach, a defined playing style, a balanced buildup, a combination of youth and experience, and most importantly, a working midfield. Manchester United, welcome to modern football! We’ve been waiting for you.
