Manchester United failed to respond to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s attempted tactical change vs Chelsea

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has now attended seven Premier League matches involving Manchester United since he became a minority shareholder. They have not won one of them.

Ratcliffe will have to venture to Suffolk in three weeks if he is to witness a visibly and pleasingly unrecognisable United. It is now three wins in ten Premier League games. Only Crystal Palace and Southampton have scored fewer goals than 13th-placed United. Ruben Amorim will have to thoroughly deprogramme these players.

There were bound to be parallels aplenty with the Dutch-managed United of last month. United's shape was forlorn, as it usually is against the Premier League's big hitters, their play was devoid of strategy, largely absent of quality and reliant on the counter-attack.

United were without ten players and the absences of Christian Eriksen and Kobbie Mainoo were particularly felt in a contest controlled by the visiting side. It was a novelty for United to encounter a costlier midfield than their own but Moises Caicedo's British record £125million fee is starting to look moot now.

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Ruud van Nistelrooy's week in the manager's office ended creditably. Van Nistelrooy has conducted himself impeccably on the touchline, at the training ground and with the press since his temporary promotion on Monday. United ought to be bullish about two wins against PAOK and Leicester City next week.

There was a flicker of managerial strategy behind their breakthrough. Rasmus Hojlund would have been a logical withdrawal yet played on and elicited the rash contact from Robert Sanchez that allowed Bruno Fernandes to notch a first Premier League goal of the season.

Casemiro and Andre Onana, on their haunches in the centre circle, could not look and faced each other. They then heard the roar and embraced. Van Nistelrooy charged down the touchline, pumped his fists and turned to those in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand.

Hojlund's miscontrol made the penalty possible from a visionary pass from Casemiro, more effective attacking from midfield rather than defending it. His header inadvertently assisted Caicedo's fine equaliser.

Not for the first time against United, Caicedo was the best player on the pitch. Until United's midfield malaise ends, they will continue to rue the day they passed on signing the Ecuadorian for £5million in 2021.

They played Culture Club's Karma Chameleon as kick-off loomed, a subtle ode to Van Nistelrooy. The day's soundtrack ended to that tune as the Stretford End put their hands together for their latest Dutch figurehead and chanted his name.

The rendition of 'Take Me Home' was also louder and hollered with greater gusto than for any previous home fixture since it was bumped up the pre-match playlist. Removing Erik ten Hag and the choice of Van Nistelrooy as an interim have at least improved the Old Trafford acoustics, if not the football.

Van Nistelrooy applauded Noussair Mazraoui following a recovery sprint and was critical of Matthijs de Ligt for going backwards rather than forwards. In defence of the defence, everything in front of them was haphazard.

United's attempted pressing quartet was swiftly abandoned. Caicedo did a number on United a few times with Brighton and one virtuoso flick in his own third led to a Chelsea corner that Noni Madueke nodded against the upright.

Twenty-five minutes in, Van Nistelrooy ordered Casemiro to adopt a more compact position next to Manuel Ugarte yet Chelsea continued to find the gaps. Wythenshawe-born Cole Palmer, scorer of four goals against United last term, was curiously blunt in the final third. "City reject," the Stretford End crowed just past the hour. Palmer heard it again as he headed down the tunnel.

Ugarte, carded for shoving Palmer to the turf, was rollicked by De Ligt for eschewing a duel with Caicedo. Midfield was patently the area United had to prioritise with their summer recruitment. Ugarte's late arrival and his suspect league performances mean it is still the pressing area to address for Ruben Amorim.

Fernandes, as is his wont, almost fashioned something out of nothing in an insipid first half with its penultimate kick. His clipped cross was wellied against the upright by Marcus Rashford, his clubface technique ensuring the ball was off-target.

Hojlund began bullishly but soon regressed. Twice in as many minutes he failed to release the ball quickly for Garnacho, his teammate for 15 months now. The crowd was audibly irked the second time, their frustration cut short by referee Robert Jones's refusal to award Hojlund. Jones was woefully out of his depth and castigated by United fans at full-time.

When Wesley Fofana barged past Hojlund in the 64th minute, the crowd's frustration loudened. The sighs reverberated more widely when the unmarked Alejandro Garnacho scooped the ball into Robert Sanchez's midriff. Garnacho had his weakest performance of an otherwise bright season.

Van Nistelrooy turned to the dugout in the 50th minute and Amad stood up but did not warm up. Van Nistelrooy was soon flanked by Rene Hake in the technical area. Five Chelsea substitutes limbered up while the United bench remained packed.

Hake was summoned again as Van Nistelrooy pondered a breakthrough from the bench. His patience prevailed without having to make a change.

Yet Ratcliffe still did not see United win.