1. Our defense suddenly looks much better, but it took us 45 minutes to get our act together. I felt that we left too many spaces in the first half and we should not have been winning at half time. Second half we were much better and there was more calmness and solidity at the centre of defense. It might take a bit more time for the defense to gel together. Let’s not forget that we changed one half of it. Do we have time though to see a better understanding between our back five?
2. In general, I really enjoyed what I’ve seen from Pogba. Having the luck to be at Old Trafford and watching the match live, I noticed a Pogba who made himself available to get the ball from his team mates at all times. He did not always come out on top against Chelsea’s three midfielders and on a number of occasions, our midfield was out-numbered. He admittedly lost a couple of possessions and also produced a few stray passes but he was always positive in his play and ended the match with two assists. My view is that when you have one of the top 10 players in the world in his department, you should NOT sell. In my mind, Pogba is irreplaceable for this United team.
3. Ole’s mentality of pressing high on defences of the opposing team is necessarily restricting our midfield to two players instead of our usual three as we got accustomed during the last years under Van Gaal and Jose. Indeed, our top four have pressed high against Chelsea in every opportunity they had. In this system, Ole needs high energy players and one could see why he chose the first eleven on Sunday. In this system, dare I say that both Matic and Mata will have very few minutes on the pitch if any. They just don’t have the agility to be aggressive in pressing. Period.
Article contributed by Echoes Contributor Roderick.
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