Graham Potter's tactical tweak saves Chelsea from Manchester United defeat but his biggest impact is elsewhere

The former Brighton boss' early returns for the Blues have been positive

LONDON -- With 35 minutes played at Stamford Bridge the opening goal seemed inevitable, that it was coming for Manchester United no less certain. At the base of the visitors' midfield, Casemiro was bossing things, invariably free to get his teammates advancing up the pitch. Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes were dragging the Chelsea midfield out towards their right flank, opening up pockets on the edge of the box for Antony to create. Marcus Rashford sniffed the space in behind with menace, drawing a level of excellence from Kepa Arrizabalaga that is increasingly becoming the norm.

Graham Potter seemed to sense the direction of travel for this game. Not since Liz Truss declared herself a "fighter not a quitter" has someone U-turned quite so abruptly. Perhaps even since she ditched all her tax cuts. Or abandoned any of her other campaign pledges. London has been rich with volte face this week but few have been as effective as that of the Chelsea manager.

His right-hand man from his Brighton days, Marc Cucurella, made way and into the fray came Mateo Kovacic. Immediately Chelsea became a meaningful force in this contest. Mason Mount placed himself squarely between the ball and Casemiro, Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek now ready in waiting when the United full-backs ventured into the half spaces as they had so dangerously at the outset.

With a three-man defense, Chelsea had had plenty of options square of them when they looked to build up play but every avenue up the field seemed to be jammed by United's superiority in midfield. Now Trevoh Chalobah, imperious when the opposition tried to exploit the space behind him, and Thiago Silva needed only to knock the ball to Jorginho and the possession game was up and running.

"The first 30 minutes I thought Manchester United were better and forced us back," the Chelsea manager acknowledged. "We had to adjust a little bit there, try to get another player in midfield and try to get a little more pressure on them. They were building their attacks a little too easily and driving us back ... From that point, I thought we did well in the game. Over the course of the game, a point is about right for us. We didn't do enough to win the game.

"The sense in the game was we were getting a little bit overrun in the midfield, we needed an extra player in there to create a little pressure, to stop them building their attacks and therefore making it harder to build ours. It was just a feeling I had. It's not an easy decision to make at all but the boys responded really well."

Potter's assessment rings true. He hadn't done enough to make Chelsea good enough to beat this swiftly improving Manchester United side, but they were at least steady enough to not lose. Jorginho's penalty was just the second shot on target the hosts had registered in 87 minutes, their first a hopeful effort from outside the penalty area. They had stemmed the tide but only at the cost of turning Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Raheem Sterling into near passengers of the game.

If one is looking for evidence of Potter's wizardry [look CBS audience, you had better get used to these shoehorned references to a certain beloved children's literature staple] it does not come in the tactical tweaks. The big chance the new manager seems to have made is that those who were once cast to the fringe by Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel are playing with the swaggering belief of first-teamers.

Chalobah's fifth successive start was his best performance in some time, thundering into headers and showing quick feet to work his way around the Manchester United press. For all the talk of a shortage of options for England at center back he remains uncapped and uncalled up. 

"He was fantastic," said Potter. "He got better and better and grew into the game. He has played such a lot as well. I's not easy with Rashford making runs constantly in behind. He has got incredible pace. Trevoh did really well. Really."

Then there is the man behind Chalobah. It seems unimaginable that the goalkeeper feinting his way past Antony in the second half, giving and going with his center backs as United forwards swarmed at him, was Kepa, the same man who was routinely petrified whenever a cross came into the penalty area a few years ago. He has gone from feet of stone to commanding his penalty area and beyond with quicksilver feet. 

His proactivity meant that on the occasions Rashford did get away from Chalobah he found a goalkeeper who looked every inch of his 6-foot-1 frame, ready to smother the chances that came his way. In years gone by those looking to mitigate the mirth around the world's most expensive goalkeeper might have pointed to the cavalcade of bodies that stood between him and the Jadon Sancho shot that would have rolled in in 2019-20. This year's model was swift enough not just to get himself behind the initial effort but to make sure he was first on the scene to quell any trouble when the ball wobbled loose.

This is the Potter that Ostersunds, Swansea and Brighton raved about, that caught the imagination of Todd Boehly and convinced the new owner to ditch a Champions League winner for a coach who had only previously seen Europe's top competition on TV. The Silhillian now in the Chelsea dugout is supposed to be a player whisperer, one who convinces his charges to find depths they did not know they had. Kepa had been on an upwards trajectory -- or at least pulling out of his tailspin -- before the change in head coach but it is only since Potter's arrival that he has looked like one of the Premier League's best goalkeepers.

It was then a cruel irony that Kepa's last great parry could only divert Casemiro's header onto the post, the ball slipping agonizingly beyond the goal line to deny Chelsea three points their Spaniard had deserved. It was not him alone who had been robbed, the easy contrast between Potter's substitutions and the seemingly game-changing introduction of Scott McTominay -- who had so clumsily conceded the penalty moments earlier -- gone like tears in the rain.

But then a good manager should not need to be making major adaptations in the first half. A good manager develops his players to be better versions of themselves. The early returns are impressive indeed.