Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: A wild, chaotic finish that enraged Jose Mourinho yet suits both sides

Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United: Mourinho was incensed by Chelsea coach Marco Ianni’s celebrations but in the end neither side can be too disappointed with what was simply a fascinating encounter

For all that tempers flared at the end of this 2-2 draw, after Jose Mourinho and Manchester United so angrily objected to Chelsea staff member Marco Ianni’s abrasive celebration of Ross Barkley’s 96th-minute equaliser, this should really be a result that both sides are mostly happy with. Any neutrals should be, because it developed into a gloriously chaotic game of football, especially after how bad the first half had been.

And this was the wider point about the game. It could also have ended up so much worse for both sides, who both showed admirable resilience at different points.

It consequently means Chelsea are still undefeated this season, while Mourinho has his first point at Stamford Bridge since getting sacked in December 2015. The Portuguese also had his first goals here, with both supplied by the resurgently sublime Anthony Martial.

The frustration for United was that they again come back for the second successive game, and were leading going into the sixth minute of injury time. It could have been so much more.

Chelsea might feel the same having initially gone ahead, but they - despite their unbeaten record - they still don’t look much more than challengers for the top-four rather than title challengers.

That is the wider point about these two teams. While it feels like this season is gradually going to settle into that top-four challenge for Chelsea and little more, United’s is still on a bit of a knife-edge. That - as well as all of the speculation about Mourinho’s future - is what is making these games so tense, but is it at least a knife-edge that is a bit more balanced; where they look less like falling off altogether.

That is one thing that has already changed about their season, to their credit. There was a point where it looked like they were finished once they went behind. It now seems to be bringing out their best football, and the best of players like Martial and Juan Mata.

And much as late goals are supposed to be the most revealing aspect in football, Barkley’s here didn’t say anywhere near as much about Chelsea as the others did about United.

The first was yet another moment that summed up so many of the problems in this United regime.

There was first of all the undeniable individual error, and yet another moment of distracted sloppiness from Paul Pogba.

This is precisely why he is rightfully criticised.

Jose Mourinho reacts to Marco Ianni's celebrations (Getty)

It was as if he just absent-mindedly forgot where he was for a few seconds, then belatedly noticed there was a tranche of space he was supposed to be covering, but not before Antonio Rudiger had plundered a header.

Pogba instantly leapt around in frustrated fury, apparently looking for someone to blame. He should have been looking at himself.

And yet it was still a goal that laid out a wider United problems in full view. It said much that, prior to this game, Chelsea were the worst of the big six for scoring from set-pieces, and 18th in the Premier League.

United were meanwhile the worst of the big six for defending set-pieces, and generally around mid-table in the league.

The latter told, and tells its own story.

Mourinho attempts to confront Ianni after his exuberant celebrations (Getty)

This was the 20th set-piece that United had conceded from in the league since Mourinho took over, with a record of one every four games leaping to one every three this season.

That is remarkable for two reasons. There is first of all the fact that United have so many players over six feet tall, ostensibly for exactly this. There is secondly the fact that properly organising set-pieces used to be a Mourinho first principle, a reflection of his supreme rigour.

They were the foundation of so many of his ferociously tight defences. The absence of that now can partially be put down to the problem that this doesn’t have the personnel for one of those defences, and that he is therefore always changing it, but that reflects a bigger question.

Mourinho responds to the Chelsea fans by holding up three fingers (Getty)

A containment approach, as United always attempt in big six games, requires set-pieces to be properly prepared because of the inevitability you will give them up when defending as well as the very fact that you are reducing the match to small margins. You just can’t afford to be so loose, when you’re consciously making it so tight.

What’s more, if Mourinho has such little faith in his defence that he is so often changing them, why base the gameplan for another big match on them? Why not build on the momentum of Newcastle United?

The folly of that was actually further revealed by United’s response, even if it also revealed the resilience still creditably inherent in this team.

Antonio Rudiger celebrates scoring Chelsea's opener (Getty)

Just like against Newcastle, going behind finally forced them to get going - and play to their strengths.

Pogba was now under pressure to produce rather than put Chelsea’s attackers under defensive pressure. Mata was released from marking Jorginho as a “defensive No 10” and instead allowed to play as a proper one. Martial was no longer an auxiliary full-back but instead able to pour forward.

There was also the advantage that this actually played on Chelsea’s weaknesses. They aren’t built for defence, nor cohesive enough yet to not make mistakes under pressure.

So it was for the equaliser. United finally upped the intensity, Pogba played a perfect ball, Chelsea dealt with it imperfectly and Martial scored.

Martial equalised for United in the second half (Getty)

United were suddenly doing everything they hadn’t been, and everything Sarri’s side don’t like: really putting them under pressure.

There were two separate moments when Mata and Lukaku almost fashioned opportunities through sheer force of will, as they tried to just press Chelsea’s hesitant defenders back towards their own goal.

Both required wild clearances, to go with what a wild game this had so suddenly become.

And that suited United more than Chelsea.

Martial celebrates after giving United the lead with his second goal (EPA)

It certainly suited Martial. A player that talented is always going to enjoy greater space, and always going to be allowed flourish in it.

With Chelsea’s defence now completely exposed, he was left in that space to exquisitely curl in another.

That looked it, but then United still look so suspect at the back, and the game still remained so chaotic.

Ross Barkley fires home Chelsea's equaliser to share the points (AP)

It paid off for Chelsea, as did their own persistence, personified by substitute Barkley.

Ianni and Sarri then celebrated, Mourinho raged, but all should have been marginally content.