Gary Neville has blamed Manchester United's defeat to Chelsea on the Collapse of the visitor's midfield. On Sunday, both clubs had a thrilling encounter at Stanford Bridge. An Alvaro Morata's 55th minute's header sealed a 1-0 victory for Antonio Conte's side. According to Neville, Chelsea midfielders comprising Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas, N'golo Kante and Bakayoko ran riot in the midfield, throwing the opponent in disarray.
According to him "I thought they got killed in midfield. I thought they got killed in midfield. Jose Mourinho, since the Liverpool game, has talked about not being able to freshen it up. I thought Herrera, Matic and Mkhitaryan got absolutely ambushed"
"(N'Golo) Kante was doing his job brilliantly, (Tiemoue) Bakayoko was running off him, (Eden) Hazard and (Cesc) Fabregas were dropping in and controlling the match. United were just well short in that area. If you dominate midfield in the big games, you're in business and Chelsea did"
"I think Pogba is a big miss because of his confidence and arrogance. He takes the ball into tight areas, holds the ball, beats a man. Michael Carrick, too - he delivers those passes up to strikers, to the side of defenders, and I think those two players would have made a big difference."
Writing further on the Gray Neville Podcast, Sky Sports quoted him as saying;
"The intent was there but if you haven't got quality and composure in midfield, you're going to struggle. Passes weren't connected, whereas with Chelsea, there was rhythm in their passing. Chelsea had rhythm, United only had moments. For me, Fabregas was the man of the match because he got control of the game and that was the difference for me. Chelsea's midfield gripped this game. I don't feel Manchester United's midfield did."
"Were Chelsea deserved winners? Yes. I think United had 15 minutes at the start where they showed intent." There was a big chance for Marcus Rashford, a good chance for Lukaku about 20 minutes into the game, Chelsea started to get a handle on it and it was in midfield: Bakayoko's runs, Kante controlling the defensive line and - more importantly, Hazard starting to drop in with Fabregas.
"Manchester United started with real purpose and intent to go and damage Chelsea - you could see Jose Mourinho felt that if he could get that first goal, that this crowd could get anxious and the players might lose confidence. But from 20 minutes onwards, Chelsea were by far the better team. They really put in a good performance. You talk about them being champions last season and dropping off this year but that was a high level."
Chelsea are still fourth on the Premier League log, nine points behind leaders, Manchester City.
