Manchester United Facing Repeat of Chelsea Set-Piece Trouble Against Man City

Manchester United survived a bruising from one physical team on Sunday. Now, they're preparing to face another.

Louis van Gaal's side ended Sunday's encounter with Chelsea level on points. But the two teams aren't in the same weight class. Not in terms of talent or skill, but literally.

There seemed to be some mistake when Didier Drogba ran off Rafael to score Chelsea's opener at Old Trafford. Something had obviously gone wrong. Why would Van Gaal ask the 5'8" Rafael to mark the 6'2" Drogba at set pieces?

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But you needed only to look at the rest of the United players for the answer. Chris Smalling was marking Branislav Ivanovic. Marcos Rojo was picking up John Terry. Marouane Fellaini was marking Nemanja Matic. That still left Chelsea with Gary Cahill and Drogba and left United with no one to mark them.

Van Gaal faces a similar problem against Manchester City on Sunday. For Terry, read Vincent Kompany. For Cahill, read Eliaquim Mangala. For Matic, read Yaya Toure. For Drogba, read Edin Dzeko.

United's defence has looked vulnerable all season. But they're also in danger of being bullied from set pieces by strong, powerful teams like Chelsea. It's likely to get a mention in City manager Manuel Pellegrini's team meeting ahead of the derby.

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Short of hoping Rafael, Luke Shaw and Daley Blind have growth spurts, there's no easy answer. You can try to restrict the amount of set pieces you concede by not giving away needless free-kicks around the penalty area, but that's not rocket science. It should be the aim every week.

Robin van Persie could be asked to mark a man instead of doing his usual job of occupying the space at the near post. Michael Carrick could play to add more height, but he's very short of match fitness after ankle surgery.

If the perfect cross is met with the perfect run and header, there's not much United, tall or not, can do about it. 

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But they can defend better than they did against Chelsea. Drogba didn't score his goal because he's taller than Rafael. He scored because he was allowed a free run into space at the front post. Van Gaal will no doubt feel the Brazilian full-back could have done better.

United struggled to deal with Chelsea's set pieces on Sunday. Smalling and Rojo might have given away penalties in the first half after wrestling with Ivanovic and Terry, and eventually, Drogba got the better of Rafael.

Manchester City will pose a similar threat at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. United can't say they weren't warned.