United must start acting part of big club in the market

Much has been made about Jose Mourinho’s penchant for functional football during — and in the time between — his two spells at Chelsea but any lack of ambition to be found at Stamford Bridge, where they face Manchester United on Sunday, is far more endemic among the visiting ranks.

Nothing to do with the tactics David Moyes may use in London. United’s new manager is under the microscope to an excruciating degree but the identity of the man in the visitors’ dugout is of far less importance than the culture at a club which has always talked big but has become accustomed to acting smaller.

As another transfer window drags on with no sign of a billboard signing from United, Chelsea have already processed the papers to sign Nemanja Matic from Benfica. They may rue the spend required to bring back a player they let go for a pittance three years ago, but they can take solace in the fact that United were said to be sniffing around too.