Chelsea 3-1 Man United: Moyes' use of Januzaj proves clever, but United sloppy at the back

Betting Statistics | Article posted on January 21st, 2025

The starting line-ups

Samuel Eto'o scored a hattrick as Chelsea convincingly defeated Manchester United without playing particularly well.
Jose Mourinho welcomed back Branislav Ivanovic, meaning Cesar Azpilicueta reverted to left-back and Ashley Cole was dropped. Nemanja Matic was on the bench, while Eto'o got the nod over Fernando Torres upfront.
David Moyes brought Phil Jones into his midfield and played Ashley Young on the left, moving Adnan Januzaj central and dropping Shinji Kagawa.
Manchester United actually started very well, but an unfortunate concession and sloppy set-piece defending let them down.
Moyes' strategy quite effective
On one hand, there's no need for Moyes to be significantly criticised after this defeat. Manchester United were clearly unfortunate with the first goal, while the second and third were because of poor defending at set-pieces. In those situations, individuals must surely take responsibility for positional errors, poor decision-making and a loss of concentration.
On the other, if the sign of a good side is 'winning while playing badly', presumably the sign of a poor side is 'losing while playing well'. United's heads inevitably dropped when they found themselves two or three goals behind, but they started the game much better than Chelsea, and in open play were arguably the better side for long periods.
United shape
Moyes showed great faith in Adnan Januzaj by handing him the central attacking role behind Danny Welbeck. It would have been easy for Moyes to excuse the youngster from such a big game and instead play the more experienced Shinji Kagawa, but Januzaj's form deserves to be rewarded with constant starts, and he was effectively United's key player in this shape – both on paper, and on the pitch.
The most interesting feature of the game was the roles of Januzaj and Welbeck. Although the former is a midfielder and therefore you'd expect to see him dropping back and helping with the numbers game in midfield, Welbeck is the player renowned for his work rate. Therefore, it was usually Welbeck dropping back to pick up David Luiz (or Ramires), and Januzaj remained further forward – not really as a second striker, but as United's most advanced player.
Januzaj drifts left
Januzaj was the most dangerous attacking player in the match, for two separate reasons.
First, he was allowed too much space between the lines by Chelsea. Neither Ramires nor Luiz are proper holding midfielders, and Chelsea's centre-backs prefer to depend deep – John Terry, for example, wouldn't have wanted sprints against Welbeck if United knocked the ball in behind. At one point, Mourinho could be seen screaming at Luiz to remain deep and protect the back four, such was the danger of Chelsea allowing Januzaj space.
Second, Januzaj constantly drifted towards the left flank. In United's previous match against Swansea he rotated positions