NO RISK, NO REWARD...AGAIN

Chelsea and United pay for lack of ambition

The problem, sometimes, with matches between the teams chasing the top four is that the neutral merely comes away with greater admiration for Manchester City. They look a cut above their peers this season.

The league table has Manchester United as the second best team in the country, and Chelsea certainly have designs on the top four, but there is a reason City are 12 points clear going into March and it was visible in both meetings of these sides this season.

Two matches, 180 minutes, no goals. here was a blank to go with the one at Old Trafford in October, with neither side prepared to risk enough to win.

Bruno Fernandes won’t have had a quieter game all season. Mason Mount showed flashes of brilliance, but Chelsea lack a consistent, match-winning forward.

There was no repeat of Olivier Giroud’s spectacular intervention against Atletico Madrid, and no likelihood of it, really.

Thomas Tuchel has made Chelsea tight and defensively impressive, and Manchester United were, too. There were occasional moments of great gusto but neither side possess City’s fluency. Who does?

It was Kevin Keegan who, on taking over as england manager, said he wasn’t the man for a 0-0 draw. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer clearly is. Goalless is United’s default result against the biggest teams this season. his two nil-nils against Chelsea go with other blanks against Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

It meant United missed out on the chance of a small cushion in second place, on a day when Leicester lost at home. This was an opportunity, not so much to gain on City but to open the gap to fifth in the Champions League qualification scramble that will dominate the final months.

There are dangerous teams outside the top four — not least Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham now that Gareth Bale has arrived — so consolidating a position inside is ever more important. United disappointed. The forwards did not even spot one obvious weakness in Chelsea’s defensive line — one their manager surely would have, in his playing days.

Chelsea goalkeeper edouard Mendy does not take shots cleanly. he pushes the ball out, not round. Sir Alex Ferguson said Solskjaer, the player, was the best student of the game he knew. That was why he was so lethal from the bench. he watched. he paid attention. he would have noticed Mendy’s penchant for offering up a second bite. And he might have won the game for United that way, too.

In the first half there was one such moment; in the second half, two. In the 14th minute, Marcus Rashford struck a free-kick from 30 yards which owed much in style to Cristiano Ronaldo. Mendy made a lot of it, choosing to parry it out, as if surprised, when a straight take seemed possible.

The ball flew, and Callum hudson-Odoi and Mason Greenwood set off in pursuit. As they tussled there seemed the possibility of handball but, which player was the guilty party, no one could be sure. Play continued but then Stuart Attwell, the referee, got a whisper from VAR Chris Kavanagh and went over to look at the monitor.

There really should be a rule about players encroaching or applying pressure during this time of review. The crowd gathering behind Attwell looked like one of

those that could be found on the way home from the game, peering at the other results through Rediffusion’s window (ask your dad). Maybe the official could use his foam can to mark a line that cannot be breached. Step over it and earn a yellow card.

Back to the telly, and certainly the ball looked to touch HudsonOdoi’s hand, but maybe Greenwood’s arm, too. Then, just when it seemed as if the Chelsea man looked sure to be penalised, Attwell signalled no foul. It proved United’s only chance of the half. Yet twice late in the game Mendy’s handling was questionable.

In the 76th minute, he spilled a cross from Daniel James in the six-yard box, only gathering it cleanly at the second attempt. United were too slow to make that count. Then in stoppage time he pushed a shot out from Fred. Anthony Martial was on by that time. He had watched from the bench for 78 minutes; enough time to take in what might happen. Forwards should be tearing in on Mendy to pick up the spare. Solskjaer certainly would have done.

Yet if United fell short, so did Chelsea, missing out on entry to the top four altogether.

There is still time — and easier opponents than United — but, worryingly, goals are increasingly hard to come by under Tuchel’s regime. Since he arrived they have won a single game by a two-goal margin and have not scored more than two goals in any game. But while United possibly had more chances, Chelsea had the best. The save of the afternoon was made by David de Gea from a close-range shot by Hakim Ziyech after Ben Chilwell had got to the byline and cut the ball back. Late on, Victor Lindelof did well to keep out substitute Timo Werner at the far post, after a deep cross from Reece James. United’s opportunities were mostly speculative. Mason Greenwood and Fred came close with shots from outside the area, and Mendy made a good save from Scott McTominay. Maybe Tuchel will toy with the idea of playing a false nine, like City. He seems to have lost faith in Tammy Abraham but, equally, Giroud is not the answer long-term. When, in the 31st minute, De Gea struck a sloppy pass straight at him, Giroud responded with a wild shot over. He came closer after 36 minutes. A lovely crossfield ball from Antonio Rudiger found HudsonOdoi whose cross was a fraction ahead of Giroud. The Frenchman dived, but could not connect with anything more significant than a goalpost. Ouch.

It was a painful end, too, for Hudson-Odoi, replaced by Reece James at half-time, just eight days after Thomas Tuchel substituted him in humiliating circumstances at Southampton. This time a knee injury may have been to blame, but James took his chance well again. He must be frustrated with the role of understudy since the change of manager.

There are players of obvious class on both teams — Mount and Fernandes in particular — but neither side took enough risks to win. It was fast, it was often frantic — but it didn’t amount to a whole lot for long periods. It certainly won’t be anything that keeps Guardiola, or anyone at City, up at night.