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‘Exactly that’… John O’Shea calls out Manchester United’s key error against Chelsea

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Manchester United appeared to be heading for victory against Chelsea after taking a second half lead.

Bruno Fernandes scored his first Premier League goal of the season, netting a penalty in the 70th minute to put Manchester United 1-0 up.

Within four minutes, Chelsea were level. Moises Caicedo scored an excellent strike from outside the box following a Chelsea corner.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw, with United left to rue the one moment that marred what otherwise would have been a 1-0 victory, and a second successive win for interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Manchester United FC v Chelsea FC - Premier League
Photo by Chelsea Football Club/Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Manchester United concede too early

One of the problems for Manchester United during the 2023/24 season under Erik ten Hag was not being able to hold onto leads for very long.

Expecting interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy to be able to change what could be a mentality issue, so quickly, would be asking too much.

Former star John O’Shea spoke to MUTV after the game to express his frustration at United’s inability to get on the ball and try to put a stamp on the game after going 1-0 up.

O’Shea said: “I think probably they look back at exactly that, straight after the goal United score, you’re thinking, can you just keep possessing a bit better?

“That’s the thing that the team have to get better at, as well, keeping possession a bit better to kill the team off. And also, frustrate them a little bit more, so they do take more chances go out of shape.

“With the players you know you’ll have, you’re thinking, obviously Amad coming on, his freshness, I think he would have got more space to exploit.”

Chelsea changes impacted game

Manchester United had brought on Amad in the 73rd minute perhaps for this exact reason, to try and exploit a Chelsea side who would push for an equaliser.

Yet United’s resistance broke after just one minute, before Amad had been given an opportunity to impact the game.

Chelsea to their credit made two changes after going 1-0 down, with Enzo Fernandez and Mhkhaylo Mudryk replacing Romeo Lavia and Noni Madueke in the 70th minute.

These changes coincided with Chelsea’s best attacking spell for around 10 minutes, with Fernandez going close to making it 2-1 shortly after the equaliser..

United had chances to go on and win it too, with Bruno Fernandes blazing a late volley high into Row Z