Chelsea were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Manchester United on Thursday night in a game they largely dominated. While it has little bearing on the league positions of either side, the poor finishing on show from the Blues will be a concern for many ahead of the FA Cup final.
Marcos Alonso finally fired Thomas Tuchel's side in front in the second-half only for Cristiano Ronaldo to instantly peg them back with his first clear chance of the game, lashing the ball past Edouard Mendy. Reece James struck the post as Chelsea pushed for a winner at Old Trafford but it was not to be.
Chelsea's profligacy in front of goal has been a concern for the past two campaigns now. It was hoped that the £97 million signing of Romelu Lukaku last summer would solve that issue but that has not been the case. This campaign has seen Kai Havertz preferred in the number nine role by Tuchel, but the manager admitted that he expects better from the forward.
"He needs to fight back into his shape. It is like this, I have the same feeling," Tuchel told his post-match press conference. "Hopefully, he shows a reaction. The guys are still young upfront and we will not start pointing fingers because lately, they have been very, very composed and very efficient in front of goal. Against Southampton and in the win at the Bernabeu, we took our chances very well and very precisely.
"It's like this. When we look at the data and think about who plays and who does not play, we see a huge amount of intensity and sprints from Kai and Timo (Werner). So they don't arrive fully, fully fresh at the moment in these matches and that's why we will always protect them because it's a team game we play and we demand a lot off the ball to have high recoveries. But I agree, in the last weeks, he had a kind of shape and form that he would've put this game to bed for us."
While Chelsea's front-men were wasteful in front of goal, Ronaldo proved as lethal as ever. The Portuguese has now scored seven Premier League goals in his last five Premier League matches, impressing Roy Keane in the Sky Sports studios. Ronaldo's former teammate even pondered the damage the marksman could do in the Chelsea side.
"I know people are quick to criticise what he doesn't do in terms of his pressing but he was never great at that anyway," Keane said during his post-match analysis. "He is the greatest at what is the hardest part of the game, putting the ball in the back of the net.
"You see the chances that Chelsea were creating. Imagine if he was in the Chelsea team, he'd probably get 50 goals. He's in a poor Manchester United team who aren't creating many chances for him and he's producing."
