Van Nistelrooy Failed To Debut In Premier League, Manchester United Detained By Chelsea

Manchester United failed to win and were only able to draw 1-1 against Chelsea. (X/@ManUtd)

JAKARTA - Manchester United's interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy failed his Premier League debut. In a duel at Old Trafford Stadium, Sunday, November 4, 2024 night WIB. MU failed to win and was only able to draw 1-1 against Chelsea.

Erik ten Hag's dismissal as MU manager doesn't seem to solve the problem. Van Nistelrooy, who replaced Ten Ha for a while before Ruben Amorim's arrival, could not overcome the difficulty of the team scoring goals.

Initially, Van Nistelrooy was estimated to have resolved the Red Devils problem when they won 5-2 in the match against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup or the English League Cup. However, MU's performance did not show any significant development after Ten Hag.

In the match against Chelsea which was held at home itself, it actually allowed Bruno Fernandes et al to rise. Moreover, they managed to take the lead first. Only MU was too quick to be satisfied with the goal created from the penalty spot. Because Enzo Maresca's team didn't take long to equalize the score.

After that goal MU was unable to break into the opponent's goal and was forced to only get one point in the home match. This is for the number of times MU failed to overcome the deadlock so they were unable to win the match. In fact, they were only able to win twice with a convincing score when they beat Crystal Palace and Southampton.

"The atmosphere in the dressing room shows deep disappointment. We should have won the game," said Fernandes.

"We know Erik has left. When the manager is no longer there, this is certainly not a good thing for anyone. This team is definitely not the best. We also didn't get the best results. And he has to pay for our failure," he said again.

"Saay manager is dismissed, you [player] should blame yourself. Because the team is not able to play well," he said.

In that match, MU still could not show a maximum performance. Van Nistelrooy did not make many changes by placing Rasmus Hojund as a center forward. This forced Joshua Zirkzee to sit on the bench.

Hojlund was supported by Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford. Meanwhile, Fernandes played behind Hojlund. With a formation not much different from Ten Hag, Van Nistelrooy's troops still could not overcome the deadlock.

Fernandes, who finally broke the deadlock when he scored from the penalty spot in the 70th minute. The penalty was given after Hojlund, who was about to dive, welcomed the ball to score. However, his feet were blocked by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

In the aftermath of the referee imposing a penalty on Chelsea. Fernandes finished the execution well after Sanchez had the wrong goal of anticipating the ball.

However, MU's advantage lasted only four minutes. Because the veteran midfielder Casemiro was unable to get the ball out of the corner. The ball was controlled by Moises Caicedo who then fired a shot into the net. Goalkeeper Andre Onana also failed to reach the ball so Caicedo brought Chelsea to equalize the score to 1-1.

After conceding, MU actually took the initiative to put pressure on it. They also got a number of opportunities, but no one was converted into a goal.

Zirkzee had a good chance when he met Garnacho's cross towards the end of the match. However, his shot could still be blocked by Chelsea's defender. However, the ball almost came in before it bounced narrowly over the crossbar. The final score did not change and United were held 1-1 by Chelsea.

"Everyone knows how much I really want a goal to be created. I'm also trying to help the team by scoring goals and making assists. This is the most disappointing game of the season," said Fernandes again.

Meanwhile, Caicedo, told the BBC, said he was happy to be able to bring Chelsea to steal points at Old Trafford. He even claimed the Blues deserved to win.

"I am very happy," Caicedo said in response to the result of the match.

"We know that if we waited a long time to equalize the score, we would have a hard time. So I'm happy to be equalized," he said.

"In fact, we actually deserve to win. We had expected this to be a game that was not easy. This is what makes us do the best possible before the match. For us, this is a really good match," he said again.

The draw led Chelsea to pocket 18 points so they could move up to fourth. Chelsea's points equal to Arsenal and Aston Villa. But Chelsea had a better goal difference that allowed them to get past the two teams.

On the other hand, MU is still stuck at the bottom after getting one additional point. They were ranked 13th by pocketing the 12th point. It was the same as Fulham, but MU lost the goal difference. As a result, MU failed to shift Fulham.