Manchester United 4-0 Chelsea: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis

#4 Kurt Zouma endures a torrid return

Zouma (R) endured a shambolic afternoon

When the 2019 off-season dawned, several Chelsea fans looked at the summer transfer window in trepidation. The Blues were set to undergo a summer where there would be no signings and one where there existed a possibility of them being depleted further.

Inevitably, the West London outfit called upon their enormous pool of players, players who had been shipped out on loan, just a season ago. And, Kurt Zouma, the strapping French centre-back, was thrown straight into the mix at Old Trafford and he looked rather shaky in a dire first half defensive display.

The Frenchman started his first away game for the Blues since the 12th of May, 2017 and his performance smacked of rust and quite a bit of nerves. The defender endured a terrible start to the game as he misplaced a pass from inside his own penalty box and handed Martial a chance to put the hosts ahead. Though the forward fluffed his lines, the seeds for a patchy showing had been laid.

Thereafter, with Chelsea in the ascendancy, Zouma contrived to stick his leg out and commit a clumsy foul on Rashford, bringing the latter down in the box and according the referee a chance to point to the spot. In contrast to Martial, the Englishman took his opportunity with aplomb and smashed the ball home to open the scoring.

To compound his woes, he got caught out in the middle third and then mistimed his challenge on Pereira, thereby playing himself into the book.

Moreover, the Frenchman looked quite unconvincing on the ball and the Red Devils targeted him with their high-pressing tactics.

Over the years, Zouma has been looked upon as a bright talent and his previous performances for Chelsea have surely lent weight to that argument. Yet, when the Blues required their centre-back to rise to the occasion on Sunday, he let himself and his team down massively.