COMMENT: Chelsea 2:2 Manchester United. A game to reward the managers. Both of them. To vindicate their decisions. Justify their choices. From 20 minutes before the final whistle. To last week. And all the way back to preseason...
Maurizio Sarri expressed frustration in the aftermath. After United's equaliser, old habits returned. "We didn't play our football, only long balls," the Italian complained. "I don't want the long ball, and going for second balls, I want to play with short passes. I don't know..."
But there was plenty for Sarri to "know" after Saturday. United tested his new Blues team like never before. And they survived. No heads dropped. No-one turned on eachother. They kept going. Right to the final whistle.
Sarri's decision to throw on Ross Barkley in the final 20 minutes justified, with the recalled England midfielder burying a dramatic 97th minute equaliser. And creating that moment was another of Sarri's vindicates.
Only David Luiz could've done that. Only the Brazilian, with time ticking away, could've drove himself into United's penalty, leapt higher than any marker and beat David de Gea with a header. That spirit. That character. That was what Sarri wanted to tap into when choosing to keep Luiz in preseason. Banished to the stands by the previous manager. Dumped by Brazil for the World Cup as a consequence. Luiz, thanks to Sarri's foresight, is back. Without him on the pitch, Chelsea were never getting that equaliser on Saturday.
In the opposite dugout. After Marco Ianni had managed to clear it. Jose Mourinho, having calmed down, could also rightly feel vindication.
Just days ago, he'd seen Luke Shaw put pen to paper on a new five-year contract, lavishing his left-back with praise for turning his career around. A personal fitness coach. Extra training outside normal hours. It all added up and both manager and player were rewarded with perhaps Shaw's most significant - if not best - performance in a United shirt. There was a shaky start, but in the end the England international took the honours against Willian, his direct opponent.
For all the spite fired at the manager over his treatment of Shaw these past two seasons, maybe the old man actually knows a bit more than those on the outside looking in?
And without getting ahead of ourselves, perhaps we're seeing the same emerge regarding Anthony Martial? The Frenchman carried on from his outstanding hour against Newcastle with this superb brace on Saturday. Pleasing his manager to the point where Mourinho risked a booking entering the pitch to give his No11 a very public pat on the back. Even when substituting the Frenchman, with a hat-trick denied, Mourinho managed to get from Martial something United fans have rarely seen - a wide, happy smile. Are all those stories about them being at odds really so accurate...?
It wouldn't be a day with Mourinho without mentioning the market. And watching on alongside Patrice Evra, Ed Woodward, United's vice-chairman exec, will know they'd be travelling home with a famous victory if he hadn't ignored his manager's pleas about signing an experienced centre-half. He didn't have to mention it in the aftermath, but those past Mourinho complaints can be justified with United's inablity to hold out Chelsea in the end.
One decision waiting to be made by Mourinho is the club captaincy. For the moment, Antonio Valencia holds the mantle. But off contract and out of the team, the manager would do well to announce Ashley Young as United's permanent captain.
Skipper for the day, more than anyone else, Young held United together as Chelsea dominated the opening 45 minutes. Sarri paid the 33 year-old the ultimate compliment in his opening approach, fielding Mateo Kovacic on the left of midfield as a way to blunt the danger of Young and Marcus Rashford's breakaways. Yet still the veteran managed to turn Chelsea around at key moments, all the while having his hands full with the outstanding Eden Hazard an ever threat.
Young, via Watford and Aston Villa, is United through and through. And he's proving himself a player in the spirit of Mourinho. There's more talented around. He'd be the first to admit that. But at 33 and through sheer will, Young was as influential as any player on the pitch at Stamford Bridge. It was that determination that saw him earn the right to be England's World Cup fullback last summer. No-one inside the United locker room deserves the captaincy more than Ashley Young.
And it was that sort of game. A game for characters. For great moments. De Gea denying N'Golo Kante at full stretch. Paul Pogba's reaction to Toni Rudiger's opening goal. Cesar Azpilicueta and Juan Mata coming together - jokingly - after the latter's late tackle. Hazard standing up. Playing on. Having received kick after kick from different United culprits.
A great game. A good result for both teams. And a great reward for each of their managers.
Oh and Ianni? Well, sorry, with so much to pack in, we've run out of time. We'll leave the hand wringing to others...
