Pochettino is under pressure to be fired as national media reacts to Chelsea’s loss

Chelsea defeated to Manchester United at Old Trafford last night, but manager Mauricio Pochettino called it a “fair result.” After Scott McTominay’s first goal, the Blues squandered multiple good chances to take a commanding lead over Erik ten Hag’s squad. Cole Palmer’s brilliant finish at halftime leveled the score.

The Scottish midfielder scored his second goal with 20 minutes left, but Chelsea was shut out for the second straight game. In a post-match statement, Pochettino said, “Disappointed because we didn’t start the game well and the feeling is they start better than us, more energy than us, we didn’t match their energy.”

“I believe they were superior. In terms of overall performance, I believe they were superior than us. Nothing to say,” continued the Chelsea manager.

Pochettino is under growing pressure in the Chelsea dugout as a result of fans’ dissatisfaction with the uneven play. It emphasizes the dissatisfaction with underperforming players because the Blues are currently tied for the most points with Brentford, one point ahead of Fulham and Wolves.

It is not surprising to hear calls for Pochettino’s dismissal because Chelsea has a history of changing managers before doing anything else when things aren’t working out. However, the comments do seem premature. Football.london has examined the national media’s response to the unfortunate loss of the Blues to United.

The Mirror

It was clear that Scott McTominay helped ease the pressure on Erik ten Hag as Manchester United 2-1 winners over Chelsea at Old Trafford.

With rumors of a dressing room uprising and 10 losses in just 21 games, the Red Devils manager was acutely aware that a strong showing was required. And United took all three points to get back into the top six thanks to a brace from McTominay that came either side of a score from Cole Palmer.

Bruno Fernandes misread his lines from the penalty spot, which cost United the opportunity to take the lead early on. After a VAR assessment determined that Enzo Fernandez had fouled Antony in the box, he was awarded a chance from 12 yards.

The Portuguese performed his trademark stop-and-start technique, but Robert Sanchez bravely stood his ground, guessed right and saved what was a weak spot kick. Chelsea could have punished United’s profligacy instantly, only for Mykhailo Mudryk to strike the outside of the post.

But the hosts got the opener they deserved after 20 minutes, when Scott McTominay fired into the bottom corner after Chelsea gave the ball away in their own half.

In a back-and-forth encounter, both sides missed opportunities with McTominay almost doubling his lead and the Blues missing a couple of golden chances themselves. But as the first half went into added-on time, Palmer levelled the scores with a sublime finish into the bottom corner.

The second half was significantly less action packed, until Alejandro Garnacho found McTominay with a beautiful cross to put United back in front with 20 minutes to go. And the home side, who gave the response Ten Hag so desperately wanted, could have extended their lead but were happy to pick up a valuable victory.

The Daily Mail

Before they can even think of plotting a course back to the summit of English football, what Manchester United need and crave more than anything is respectability. No more embarrassment. No more inquests. No more failure.

Respectability means a lot in football. It gives you something to build from. It gives you breathing space. It gives you time to think.

At Old Trafford recently there has not been enough of any of that. It’s why their manager Erik ten Hag often wears that weary, confused look. It’s why players not in the team have started to whisper and plot and cause ripples on the surface. It’s why United have started telling reporters they can’t come to press conferences.

Panic and fear and over-reaction live in the spaces that respectability leaves behind. So that is why nights like this one are important. United were not perfect against Chelsea. They were vulnerable at times and not always terribly clever when they didn’t have the ball. But Ten Hag’s players left nothing out there in terms of effort and they won the game against a desperately flawed Chelsea team by playing the type of forward thinking, quick football that has lived in the club’s traditions for so long.

This was a very strange game but it was exciting. Gary Neville spoke at the weekend about being bored by United but there was nothing dull about this. It could and probably should have been 4-4 at half-time. Instead, it was 1-1 but no less gripping for that.

United – with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial on the bench after their poor displays in Saturday’s defeat at St. James’ Park – were the better team early on. Bruno Fernandes had a penalty saved in the ninth minute by Robert Sanchez after Enzo Fernandez was spotted standing on Antony’s foot by a VAR check. But United still pressed on to lead ten minutes later.

Fernandes – a fine player for all his faults – spotted Alejandro Garnacho’s run on the left overlap and when his cross reached Harry Maguire, a first time shot rebounded to Scott McTominay. A touch to control the ball was followed by a shot to score and United were deservedly ahead.

Chelsea were all over the place in the centre of the field. They could not keep the ball. Down their own left side, meanwhile, Garnacho was terrorising Marc Cucurella. McTominay was twice denied by Sanchez – a header and a follow up – just after the half hour but by then Chelsea were threatening too. United lack legs in centre field and here it showed as Mauricio Pochettino’s team cut through them on two or three occasions.

This, then, was not a night without questions for United. A missed penalty and then a lead cancelled out. This group have players have buckled in the face of less. Here they briefly looked as though they may surrender the initiative early in the second half. Palmer became the most influential player on the field for a while and began to stretch United down their own left side.

It wasn’t a switch of pattern that lasted, though. United gathered themselves and Garnacho was the game’s most regular source of danger. When he crossed from the left with 21 minutes left, McTominay left Chelsea captain Levi Colwill on the floor to head in at the Stretford End from six or seven yards.

Colwill – Chelsea’s third captain in three games – appealed for a foul and VAR had a look. But the young defender just hadn’t been anywhere near strong enough. It was, in truth a pretty, lame defensive effort that was reasonably reflective of his team’s overall contribution in that area.

There was still time for a scare as Chelsea substitute Armando Broja headed against the bar in injury time. But United edged over the line and left their manager with something more encouraging to ruminate on.

The Guardian

After defeat at Newcastle on Saturday and, to a lesser extent, the ban of four media organisations from the pre‑game press conference on Tuesday, Manchester United and Erik ten Hag required a win.

In elite sport this is the only way to control the message, no matter the PR strategy, and the mission was accomplished thanks to Scott McTominay, who scored his second Premier League double of the season.

Until his 69th-minute intervention United were heading for another case of a bright start being blighted by switching off, as his opener was cancelled out by a Cole Palmer finish.

If so the inquest into Ten Hag and his team would have had a next chapter. But instead this skirmish of two fallen heavyweights ended with United moving into sixth on 27 points – only three behind Manchester City – and Chelsea, for all their investment, languishing in 10th.