Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea: Three tactics from Frank Lampard that cost Blues the game

Chelsea started their new Premier League campaign under Frank Lampard against arch-rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. Chelsea came into the this game on the back of an average pre-season tour in which they won some and lost some but Chelsea fans were eager to see their team's first competitive match under Lampard.

Those fans, though, were in for a disappointment as their team got absolutely battered by the Red Devils. Manchester United won the game 4-0 but the scoreline doesn't really depict how the game went. The first half was dominated by Chelsea for large parts but they had nothing to show for the chances they created.

United, on the other hand were clinical in front of goal and scored through Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Daniel James. In this sideshow, we are going to take a look at the three tactics from Lampard that cost Chelsea the game.

#3 Team Selection

Lampard's team selection on the day would have surprised many Chelsea fans as he started the 20-year-old Mason Mount in the number 10 position and Tammy Abraham as the striker. Also, playing Ross Barkley on the left wing didn't really make any sense as the Englishman throughout the pre-season displayed his qualities as a proper number 10.

Barkley didn't have much influence on the game due to the fact that he was played out of position and if Lampard wanted to play Mount as the attacking midfielder, he should have then started with a proper left winger in Christian Pulisic or even Kenedy.

Also, Barkley was drifting towards the center at every opportunity and that meant Chelsea seriously lacked width on the left side. While it can be said that it was brave on Lampard's part to name such a young attacking side, it can also be said he missed a couple of tricks here.

Ross Barkley was played on the left side of midfield.

#2 Holding a high line of defense

At the start of the game, Lampard knew that Manchester United's strength is their pace on the counter but that didn't stop him from playing a high line of defense. The effect that had on the game was massive as both Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford were using their pace and trying to get in behind that Chelsea defense.

Anthony Martial was used cannily by Solskjaer.

Also, playing both the full-backs nice and high in possession had an adverse effect on Chelsea's ability to stop United from counter-attacking. Solskjaer instructed both Rashford and Martial to not always track back and help the defense which meant whenever the Blues lost the ball, either Rashford or Martial had lots of open spaces to work with and United's third and fourth goal was a testament to this.

Kurt Zouma and Cesar Azpilicueta didn't have great games defensively and against big teams going forward, Lampard will want his team to look more assured at the back.

#1 The lack of defensive presence in Chelsea's midfield

Chelsea started with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic in a midfield two and it looked like the Blues lacked the defensive presence of somebody like an N'Golo Kante in the middle of the park.

Whenever United counter attacked, the lack of pace of both Jorginho and Kovacic meant that they weren't going to catch up to the United forwards and that helped the home side open up Chelsea's defense at will. The thing is, Kante should have started this game even if he wasn't a hundred percent fit as the Frenchman offers so much off the ball.

Frank says he felt we were the better team for 45-60 minutes but we made mistakes for all four of Man United's goals, which cost us today.#MUNCHE
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 11, 2019

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Also, Jorginho has to improve defensively if he is to play in that number six role as Kovacic is clearly seen as the more attacking option by Lampard. If this match was anything to go by, Chelsea have to work a lot on the defensive side of their game, including in the center of the park.