Manchester United's horror season got worse on Sunday. Any dreams of winning the league, which were already ridiculous, have certainly been smashed. Even David Moyes' mother doesn't think standing with England's best teams is possible. Even making up the six-point gap to challenge for fourth appears ambitious now.
Manchester United don’t ask anything of Chelsea as Red Devils continue to unravel
Just when you think Manchester United can’t get any worse, they go to Stamford Bridge and they do.
Things aren't so gloomy in West London. With Samuel Eto'o's hat trick, Chelsea now have five goals from strikers in their last three matches and along with the signing of Nemanja Matic, they appear primed to turn their two-point deficit into a lead atop the Premier League table.
What did we see in Chelsea's 3-0 thumping of Manchester United at Stamford Bridge?
Manchester United have defenders in name only
It’s impossible to describe just how atrocious the Red Devils defended at Stamford Bridge so just look at what they were doing while Eto’o made it 2-0 instead.
United never asked anything of Chelsea
Normally when a team goes up 3-0 and win 3-1, there's a lot of praise to go around, and Chelsea were fine. There were a lot of nice performances and Jose Mourinho will be happy with what he saw, but let's be honest: it was as easy a victory.
Chelsea can take credit for getting past the opening 10 minutes, which included a fine Petr Cech save, but after that United were so bad that the Blues were never challenged. It's tough to give a team much credit when nothing is asked of them. Chelsea did the job and everyone wearing blue left Stamford Bridge with a smile, but the result was decided more by those in red.
There is no quick fix for the Red Devils
It’s easy to say that Manchester United need a central midfielder -- and they do -- but that alone won’t fix a growing list of problems at Old Trafford. Chelsea don’t have a central midfielder either, or at least they didn’t until this week when they signed Matic, but the Serbian didn’t come on until the match was already done and dusted. United can’t even hang with a midfield as flawed as theirs, but their problems went well beyond that.
Simply buying a central midfielder won't change the fact that they really need two. Or the fact that they could use an upgrade at central defense. Or the fact that Patrice Evra is only getting older and slower. Or the fact that for all their numbers, they don't have anything useful on the wing.
Most importantly, simply buying a central midfielder won’t change the fact that the attitude inside the team looks to be atrocious.
Whether it is players jogging down to stop a counterattack, seemingly only interested in giving the appearance of effort, five defenders watching Eto’o score or Evra’s fear of going forward, United are too often defeated mentally. They are being outworked and are afraid to be aggressive. No signing, or anyone’s return from injury, can change that.
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