Manchester United’s summer additions shine in season debut

Manchester United soar past Chelsea, winning 4-0, with their newest players playing starring roles.

In the final game of the weekend, Manchester United hosted Chelsea at Old Trafford. The Red Devils got their season started on the right foot as they smashed the Blues winning 4-0.

After a disappointing sixth-place finish last season, Manchester United spent heavily in the summer to upgrade their team. United were aggressive, signing Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James and they all made their United debuts against Chelsea after their high-priced moves to the club. The three new players provided immediate dividends for United.

Following a drawn-out transfer negotiation with Leicester, United made Maguire the most expensive defender in history. After finishing last season in the bottom of the table in goals against, Maguire immediately provided United with the type of player that they were missing.

Too often last season, United looked disorganized at the back, giving up far too much space to opposing teams. Maguire took away time and space from the Chelsea attackers. The England international prevented Chelsea from getting chances inside the box. Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham looked invisible for most of the game until he was replaced by Olivier Giroud.

Full-back Wan-Bissaka also did a great job control his side of the pitch, preventing Ross Barkley and Christian Pulisic from making many attacking runs or sending crosses into the box. Wan-Bissaka was also able to push forward and make overlapping runs. The third player signed, James, came on as a second-half sub and scored the fourth goal for United.

Not all additions come from signing players. That is perhaps a lesson more teams in the Premier League need to learn. Too often, Premier League teams bypassed some of their young players in favor of a high-priced signing. United decided to move on from Romelu Lukaku, selling the striker to Inter Milan. The move made financial sense but also allowed United to play at a faster pace with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial leading the attack. Rashford was excellent against Chelsea, finding the back of the net twice, while Martial added another goal for United.

For Chelsea, it was a disastrous second half that sunk the club in former Chelsea captain Frank Lampard’s managerial debut. The Blues were the better side for the first 15 minutes and could have been winning had Abraham’s shot not rattled off of the post. However, it all changed for Chelsea following a poor challenge from center-back Kurt Zouma inside of the box. Rashford converted the penalty and the game swung in United’s favor.

In the second half, Chelsea fell apart. The Blues were caught on the counter-attack by United, with Martial finishing in front of goal. Not even two minutes later, Paul Pogba won the ball in midfield and played a beautiful ball over top to Rashford on a diagonal run. Rashford made no mistake and netted his second of the game. United were not done, as Pogba made a long run up the field before laying a pass over to James, who took an extra touch before sending a shot toward goal. The ball deflected off of the Chelsea defender and into the goal.

One game is far too soon to judge Lampard, who came into the season in a difficult situation. The Blues were forced to sell star player Eden Hazard to Real Madrid and were unable to replace him because of a transfer ban. Additionally, the Blues entered the season dealing with several injuries that limited Lampard’s options.

Lampard will have to consider making changes to the starting XI ahead of the Blues game next weekend against Leicester. Zouma had a game to forget. In addition to conceding a penalty, the center-back picked up a yellow card and a giveaway almost resulted in another United goal. Lampard must hope that Antonio Rudiger will be able to return soon following knee surgery. When the German center-back returns, he will be a significant upgrade over Zouma.