Man Utd shares points with Chelsea; HAGL misses out on victory despite leading by two goals

MU drew with Chelsea

David de Gea has made more errors leading to goals this season than in the previous five seasons combined. The errors came at a crucial time in the season, leaving Man Utd out of breath in the race for the top four. The draw leaves them three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. With a goal difference far below the West Londoners, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are unlikely to produce a miracle in the final two games of the season.

Goalkeeper De Gea's mistake caused the Old Trafford team to be held to a 1-1 draw in round 36 of the Premier League on April 28.

Solskjaer did everything to help Man Utd find victory after three consecutive defeats. With the return of Ander Herrera, Man Utd used a 4-4-2 formation with a diamond midfield. Juan Mata played highest in midfield, supporting Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku. This was the framework that helped Man Utd eliminate Chelsea in the FA Cup in February 2019, except for the positions of De Gea and Eric Bailly.

The change helped Man Utd's attack improve. Lukaku was allowed to operate widely and his clever run gave him a chance to face goalkeeper Kepa in the fourth minute. From a long pass from Luke Shaw, the Belgian striker shot from a tight angle but could not beat the away team's goalkeeper.

Man Utd's attack showed optimism and they opened the scoring early in the 11th minute, after an impromptu combination. Lukaku appeared in front of the penalty area, passing the ball to Luke Shaw to enter the penalty area. The English defender crossed for Mata to finish delicately into the empty net. The Spanish midfielder scored a goal to celebrate his birthday, and Man Utd ended a streak of three matches without a goal.

The game opened up after the opening goal. Chelsea relied on Eden Hazard's explosive ability to attack. He repeatedly caused chaos for the home team's defense. "Hazard was like a lizard slithering between rocks," commented journalist Rob Smyth on The Guardian. Chelsea created many chances, but the next dangerous chance belonged to the home team, with Bailly's header going wide of the post.

It seemed like the first half would end with the home team's advantage, but goalkeeper De Gea made a basic mistake. From a long-range shot by defender Rudiger, De Gea failed to catch the ball, allowing Marcos Alonso to score. It seems that the 28-year-old goalkeeper has had psychological problems in recent weeks when he continuously made basic mistakes. "The hammer and axe of criticism is certainly directed at De Gea, but don't forget he is Man Utd's best player in the post-Alex Ferguson era," commented Smyth.

De Gea's mistake made it difficult for Man Utd to enter the second half. However, Chelsea could not take advantage of the opportunity to take the lead. The match was constantly interrupted by injuries to players from both teams, from Rashford to Rudiger, David Luiz, Bailly and Willian. The pace of the match slowed down towards the end of the half.

Man Utd needed the win more than their opponents, forcing them to fight back in stoppage time. Marcos Rojo jumped higher than everyone else in a corner and headed the ball into the far corner. Kepa was defeated, but Pedro was able to clear the ball on the line. In the final minute, Gonzalo Higuain faced him, but his shot hit goalkeeper De Gea.

De Gea makes consecutive mistakes.

Aguero helps Man City reclaim top spot

The decisive moment of the match on the evening of April 28th came in the 63rd minute, with the help of goal-line technology. Aguero skillfully turned around, escaped the grip of two Burnley defenders, and then shot from close range. Burnley midfielder Matthew Lowton quickly cleared the ball, but Goal-line determined that the ball had crossed the line by about 29.5 millimeters, meaning the goal was recognized for Aguero and Man City.

With three points earned at Turf Moor, Man City have again broken away, retaking the top spot of the Premier League table with one point more than Liverpool. With two rounds remaining, the two-horse race for the title promises to continue to be exciting until the last minute. Man City will host Leicester in round 37 on May 7, then visit Brighton in the final round a week later. Liverpool will visit Newcastle first, then return home to play the final round against Wolves.

The 1-0 scoreline did not reflect the true situation at Turf Moor, where Man City dominated in every aspect, with 74% possession, 25 shots and six corners. Burnley did not even get a corner and only had two shots, but neither of them were on target. However, before they could smile in victory and regain control of their own destiny in the title race, Guardiola and his team endured a truly tense 90 minutes.

Aguero celebrates after scoring.

Burnley have secured their place in the league and no longer have much motivation to fight for a place. But when playing at home, Sean Dyche and his team are still a very annoying team, with a concrete defensive style of play. Against Man City on April 28, the usual scene was almost the entire Burnley squad retreating to their own half, calmly repelling all attacking efforts of the defending champions.

City went into the game two points behind Liverpool, who had beaten Huddersfield 5-0 two days earlier. Guardiola and his team knew that anything other than a win over Burnley could cost them their title chances. City, therefore, played with urgency and looked to get the ball up front as quickly as possible to launch attacks, especially after the second half.

The defending champions' efforts seemed to have been rewarded with a penalty in the 50th minute. However, perhaps due to an unfavourable viewing angle, referee Paul Tierney and his assistants failed to see the home player Barnes elbowing the ball after Bernardo Silva's powerful shot. Three minutes later, another clear chance for Bernardo was denied, this time by a save from home goalkeeper Tom Heaton.

Aguero's opening goal in the 63rd minute helped Man City relieve some of their frustration. But they could not use that momentum to widen the gap, as Jesus and Aguero both failed in their subsequent efforts. The 1-0 score made Guardiola and his students extremely tense for the last 10 minutes, including extra time. However, appropriate personnel adjustments to strengthen the defense, combined with Burnley's lack of sharpness when attacking, helped Man City successfully protect their advantage until the end of the match.

HAGL unfortunate draw

The mountain town team was held to a 3-3 draw by Thanh Hoa in the seventh round of the V-League on the afternoon of April 28. HAGL's first match under new head coach Lee Tea-hoon started off with excitement and drama, but the ending was not as they expected. The mountain town team continuously took the lead over Thanh Hoa, but because of a momentary lapse of concentration, they had to pay the price in the final seconds of the match.

Entering this match, HAGL was missing many key players so coach Lee Tae-hoon had to use the central defender duo Trong Sang - Duc Luong and two defenders Van Son and Anh Tai to defend in front of goalkeeper Sietsma's goal. In the midfield, Viet Hung returned to join Tuan Anh, Hong Duy and Kien Quyet while the attack line still had the presence of Van Toan and Chevaughn Walsh.

Using a makeshift formation, HAGL still had a better start. The mountain town team opened the score in the 14th minute, when center-back Trong Sang took part in a corner kick, taking advantage of goalkeeper Buu Ngoc's mistake in choosing the wrong landing spot to head the ball into the net.

HAGL's defense (in white) lacked concentration even though the offense played well.

The early goal helped the home team to play an exciting attack, but the defense overturned those achievements. In the 26th minute, Kien Quyet could not keep up with Van Thang in the penalty area, allowing the striker to cross. Gramoz tapped the ball close to the goal to equalize 1-1 for the Thanh team. The mountain town team then regained the lead when Walsh took advantage of the opponent's defense's mistake, skillfully handling the ball to eliminate goalkeeper Buu Ngoc and raise the score to 2-1.

It was the Jamaican player who scored again in the second half to make it 3-1. In the third goal, Van Toan was the one who was aggressive, getting past the visitors' defense to cross for his foreign teammate to finish with a tap-in shot.

Coach Lee Tae-hoon, after his time as Technical Director, somewhat understood the weaknesses of HAGL's defense. Therefore, after having a good game and a two-goal advantage, he sent Minh Vuong onto the field to replace defender Anh Tai, pushing Kien Quyet back to play left-back. The Korean coach wanted Minh Vuong to join Tuan Anh to dominate the midfield area, reducing the load on the defense.

This adjustment quickly helped the home team dominate the game. In the 66th minute, Minh Vuong coordinated with Van Toan to help striker number 9 accelerate past Thanh Hoa defenders and pass the ball inside, but this time, Viet Hung hit the post.

Despite attacking a lot but not taking advantage of the opportunities, Mr. Duc's team faced a cruel fate. Duc Luong was confused and committed a foul in the penalty area, giving Thanh Binh the chance to reduce the score to 2-3 from the penalty spot.

Referee Vu Nguyen Vu was very decisive in awarding a penalty when Rimario was fouled by Duc Luong. But he ignored protests from HAGL and waved his hand to let the match continue in the situation where Van Toan faced goalkeeper Buu Ngoc and was pushed down from behind by Minh Tung.

HAGL took an early lead and created a jubilant atmosphere, but lost the victory at the last minute.

Van Toan himself then also had a missed shot, when facing the goalkeeper but shot wide in the 85th minute. This national team striker and HAGL will surely regret that missed shot, because in the 89th minute, the home team's defense made another mistake leading to the third goal.

A Thanh Hoa player kicked the ball hard from outside the 16m50 area, causing goalkeeper Sietsma to be unable to catch the ball and Van Thang was there to cushion the ball into the empty net to tie the score at 3-3. In this goal, defender Kien Quyet also made a positional error when he stood below the opponent's striker, instead of moving up to let the offside trap fall on Van Thang.

Losing two points at the end of the match, HAGL is still in the bottom group with seven points after seven matches in the Wake-up 247 national championship. Meanwhile, this draw is not enough to help Thanh Hoa escape the bottom position. Coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team are still in 14th place with four points after four draws and three losses.