Of all the selection decisions that Ole Gunnar Solskjær made for this FA Cup semi-final, the one that persisted with David de Gea instead of turning to Sergio Romero seemed the safest.
The Manchester United coach named Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood among their substitutes, but in goal he sought continuity and the promise of stability, which was disappointing for Romero, who had played in almost all ties in the cup of the club this season. The notable exception was the two stages of defeat in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
However, De Gea endured an evening that not only cost his team dearly, but raised fundamental questions about whether he retains the ability to perform at the level necessary for the club.
The 29-year-old has made mistakes this season and, with his position being the most exposed on the field, criticism has been strong. Remember when Tottenham’s Steven Bergwijn ran his hands through United’s first game after the restart? Roy Keane, the former United captain, said he would have hit him in the dressing room.
This was worse, De Gea did not fail once but twice to deal with routine shooting. She left her team 2-0 down and in no position to recover. Make no mistake, he wasn’t the only player in a United jersey who didn’t show up. Harry Maguire, the captain, had a terrible game, which was summed up when he deflected a cross from Marcos Alonso by De Gea for Chelsea’s third.
Chelsea were the best team from the start and, the fourth time they ask this season, they have a victory over United to savor. They will face Arsenal in the final on August 1.
But De Gea was the villain-in-chief from United’s point of view, the player who did the most to influence the result. The first award saw him allow Olivier Giroud’s movie to walk away from him, got nothing behind the ball and allowed him to roll almost apologetically over the line, and the second was even more dazzling. De Gea had time to cross Mason Mount’s low shot from outside the box, but dropped in slow motion and simply rolled the ball into the corner of his net. How were his hands so weak? It seemed that all confidence had been taken from them.
United obtained late consolation through the penalty of Bruno Fernandes after substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi had stumbled upon Martial, whom Solskjær had introduced at the end of the first half, but the game had long since vanished. Chelsea will draw strength before the final push for the Champions League places, while for United it marked the end of an unbeaten streak of 19 games.
Lampard rested the Christian Pulisic in form, but Chelsea seemed stronger and more progressive from the start, although it took them until the 11th minute of the first half halting time to lead. The reason for the plethora of extra minutes was a nasty head-butt clash between United defenders Eric Bailly and Maguire, with the former going worse.
Bailly had been able to get her feet back after the treatment, but she looked shaky and went back down. He was finally removed on a stretcher, his neck in a brace, applause from both groups of players in his ears. Maguire continued to play with his head bandaged.
Giroud’s goal came when César Azpilicueta threw a cross over from the right and Chelsea’s center forward stood in front of Victor Lindelöf too easily to touch towards the goal. Cue the beginning of De Gea’s crumbling.
Reece James had warmed up De Gea’s gloves from a distance early on and Marcos Alonso should have scored in 16 minutes only to fluff a header on the back post of an Azpilicueta cross.
Solskjær started on a 3-4-1-2 system but, with little success in a creative sense, returned to 4-2-3-1 after Bailly was forced, with Martial leading.
Fernandes had taken a routine save from Willy Caballero with a free kick and Nemanja Matic had missed his shot from a corner when he was well placed, but the closest United came to a break in the first half was when Martial chased a ball. long in the penalty area and felt Kurt Zouma go through it as he cleared. It looked like a foul, although it seemed to be marginally out of the box.
United was so sloppy and if Chelsea’s second was another personal disaster for De Gea, then Brandon Williams won’t enjoy the investigation either. He played a pass inside and only managed to find Mount, who ran uncontrollably towards the edge of United’s area before shooting low for goal. Each TV replay seemed more damning than the previous one to De Gea.
After Marcus Rashford approached, Solskjær introduced Pogba and Greenwood, but United seemed defeated. Maguire would waste two good opportunities and Chelsea could have scored more. The mount shone high as De Gea saved Giroud and James, and Hudson-Odoi was a waste in the end.
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