The Man in The Shed

11^th August – Here we go again

Before you know it the holiday season is over, pre-season has been completed and the Premier League is back !

There was a certain calmness about the circus that is the transfer window this year. It was no great surprise to wave goodbye to Sarri straight away (who wouldn’t want to manage Juventus and Ronaldo). A good man, a good man-manager but somebody the fans seemed unable to love.

And then there was the transfer ban. The club took it on the chin, brought back Lampard knowing he would give the kids a chance and that appears to be the way things are playing out. The only real surprise was that David Luiz spat out his dummy when Frank told him that he wouldn’t be a guaranteed starter. The club broke its rules about only offering 12 month contracts to over 30’s for Luiz and the reward was a strong exchange of views with the new manager and he’s sold within days !

So the game.

Not the kindest fixture to begin the post Hazard era. Despite Manchester United no longer being a top four team they appear to have copied Liverpool in deciding that adding a top quality centre back was the best way to lift the club to the next level. With their stats showing no clean sheets for ages it made good sense.

Frank Lampard could have been forgiven for fielding an experienced team in such circumstances but with Rüdiger still not fully fit and Kanté not quite ready either he picked a team pretty much based on pre-season form. Other than Pulisic being on the bench you couldn’t really fault his logic.

I guess as I waited for kick off I had two concerns – would the lack of experience count and where would our goals come from ?

Based on the first 15 minutes I was pleasantly surprised. I hadn’t managed to watch any of the pre-season games or even the highlights so this was my first opportunity to watch the likes of Mason Mount in the Chelsea side. We were the better team and Abraham was only the width of a post from giving us the lead.

Then Zouma, another returning loanee, made a clumsy challenge in the box and it’s a penalty. The introduction of VAR made the stoppage a little longer but it was clear from the first replay on Sky that it was a foul. The penalty from Rashford was pretty much unstoppable.

Unsurprisingly the second 15 minutes was all United. It was starting to turn into an end-to-end game. Zouma was still unsettled and Barkley wasn’t doing too well either. Zouma then fouled again and was booked – not his best game.

Momentum then swung back to Chelsea. Barkley had a shot saved and then Emerson hit the bar. The final 15 minutes were Chelsea’s.

Half time and we deserved more than a 0-1 scoreline.

The second half began in the same vain as the first. We just needed to play the same way but convert a couple of chances. Zouma was playing better. I’m sure someone had their arm around his shoulder at half time with a quiet word of encouragement.

The first fifteen minutes of this half were also good for Chelsea. Pulisic was on for Barkley on the hour – I was looking forward to watching this guy.

Zouma seemed to have settled and then before you knew it, in two minutes, the game was effectively over. First we were beaten by a low cross from the by-line tapped in from a yard out and then within seconds of the restart we were caught with a through ball on the counter.

You knew it wasn’t our day when the United fourth goal deflected off Emerson to wrong-foot Kepa.

A disappointing result and a real feeling of injustice. I know I’m biased but I am sure any neutral would agree that we weren’t four goals worse that United. We have West Ham to thank for not being bottom of the league after the first weekend.

Our most potent attacker was Emerson with at least four efforts ! And whilst Wan-Bissaka looked a class act as the new United full back, Pulisic showed several times that he was capable of beating him.

The good news is that we have a big game in midweek to focus on. The bad news is that we play Liverpool who will be two days better rested. Still, when you support a football team you want them to be involved in big games so let’s savour the privilege and look forward to it !