Chelsea vs Manchester United: Six things we learnt from Jose Mourinho's unhappy Stamford Bridge return

After his sending off in the Manchester derby almost two years ago, it looked a long road back for Chris Smalling. Yet suddenly, from his lowest ebb, he became the Premier League’s most-improved defender. That improvement, however, has masked the moments of indecision and calamity which remain very much part of his game.

Not only for Pedro’s opener, or Cahill’s goal, but every time Chelsea found space to run at Manchester United’s backline, Smalling was dumbfounded. He and Daley Blind, playing to his left and once his regular partner at centre-half, may as well have communicated in Morse code, so poor was their understanding. Jose Mourinho has already dropped his captain. It may be time to drop the deputy.

The common complaint during Chelsea’s indifferent opening weeks to this season was that they started slowly, but they can’t complain when you score after 30 seconds.

Once off to such an exhilarating start, Antonio Conte could be forgiven for reverting to type. Instead, his team continued to show the same aggression their coach does on the touchline. The Matthew Harding Stand did not have to wait long for a second.

Has Conte learned, after a testing introduction, that his teams simply have to start well? If so, many of the initial concerns about this Chelsea side could be put the one side. They are devastating when they play at full pelt.

One goal in eight. It is a troubling record, but it would not be so troubling if the performances on top were convincing. Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived like he was made for both United and the Premier League, but the cock-of-the-walk is struggling to score from six yards out.

Criticism of his miss at Liverpool last Monday was a little unjust, but he was handed a far more presentable chance in the first-half with the score still at 1-0 here. Again, it was a header. Again, he was static. Again, he missed.

A second-half switch to two-up-top with the Swede alongside Marcus Rashford, a partnership Mourinho talked up in pre-season, failed to bring about a chance as good as his first. He ended the game isolated, looking out of place in a forward full of dynamic and fast, if currently misfiring, talent. To paraphrase the cliché, his class is undoubted, but his form is now questionable.

The chants of “you’re not special anymore” which some Chelsea supporters used to greet Mourinho were a little surprising, perhaps, but the choruses for Victor Moses raised more eyebrows.

An elder statesman of the west London’s ‘out on loan’ contingent, to say the Nigeria international was a ‘forgotten man’ upon Conte’s arrival this summer is an understatement. Yet here, on his 100th Premier League start, Moses looked as much of fixture in this team as its star men.

Earlier this week, he told of how Mourinho had barely spoke to him during his second tenure here. “I thought in my head, 'He's got his own players already,” he recalled.

Conte, on the other hand, has arrived at Stamford Bridge with very few pre-conceptions about his squad. He and Moses are reaping the benefits.

Maybe deploying Paul Pogba in two different positions, with radically different responsibilities, for three games in the space of six days isn’t expecting too much of the world’s most expensive footballer. Yet it feels like he is not being afforded the chance to shine.

After his brace from midfield against Fenerbahce he found himself back playing off the striker, as he did with discipline, if not distinction, at Anfield. His best football at Juventus came operating in a central three, with license to run and bustle, to live up to his reputation as one of the world football’s elite.

The scrutiny of Pogba’s start at United will continue, but Mourinho’s reluctance to his player in his best position deserves more attention.

Not so much a 'thing we learnt', no, but definitely a fact. Another fact is that it's October. The clocks are also yet to go back. Mourinho's United remain in the title race, just as Conte's Chelsea did after their own horrorshow at Arsenal three league games before this one.

For all the criticisms that can be levelled at the him, and there are criticisms to be made, the overriding feeling among the club's more sensible supporters is that Mourinho is the man to get it right. One, speaking to the United We Stand podcast ahead of Monday's draw at Liverpool, described him as 'reeking of United'. What that smell is exactly is unclear, but the sentiment is fully justified.

Jürgen Klopp, ironically, put it best after his side failed to take pole on Saturday, asking: "Who wants to be top of the league in October? Who?" Too many, that's who.