THE VERDICT: UNITED 2 DERBY 2 Jones the fall guy but the damage runs deeper
(DERBY WIN 8-7 ON PENS)
PAUL Pogba urged United to ‘attack, attack, attack’ at Old Trafford in his weekend diatribe – and they did that immediately against Derby.
Yet they did not defend, defend, defend as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup.
Pogba was rested, but still set the agenda inside the stadium on a night Frank Lampard’s daring Derby overshadowed him through their penalty shoot-out triumph.
Jose Mourinho informed Pogba earlier in the day he would not skipper United again in the latest power play between manager and player that has seen the club lurch from crisis to crisis just two months into this toxic campaign.
The Carabao Cup was the Reds’ best chance of silverware, and it has ended at the first stage.
United had not lost a third round tie in the competition since Coventry in 2007.
Sir Alex Ferguson was prioritising the league and Europe on a night Dong Fangzhuo started – this is a much more damaging defeat.
It was a night that had echoes of the 2014 semi-final penalty loss to Sunderland in the same competition.
A Fergie-time goal from Marouane Fellaini took Derby to spotkicks, yet Phil Jones fluffed his lines from 12 yards again. Mourinho’s season won’t hinge on the Carabao Cup, but it is a competition he has won four times and values.
Pogba and Mourinho’s quarrelling has destabilised United enough this calendar year and the latest development emerged on a day the executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, promised to add to the club’s 65 trophies and Mourinho’s own personal CV.
Woodward is siding with the manager, not the player, but the situation could change again. Neither are indispensable.
Mourinho was not obliged to attend a pre- or post-match press conference for the League Cup and the broadcasters skirted around the Pogba issue in their pieces-to-camera.
The player was secondary for the tens of thousands of United supporters who clicked through the turnstiles last night. ‘Jose Mourinho’ they chanted defiantly. There was a football match, after all. Mourinho made nine changes without underestimating Derby or upsetting United’s rhythm and was rewarded with Juan Mata’s third-minute strike.
The game was three minutes old when Anthony Martial’s stroked cross was deftly flicked on by Romelu Lukaku to Jesse Lingard and his delicate touch swept in by Mata. Free-flowing, onetouch, attacking football.
Sergio Romero, making his first appearance since March, alertly thwarted Mason Bennett a few minutes later and the Stretford End hollered his name in appreciation.
Romelu Lukaku squandered a header and a one-on-one inside 13 minutes. His selflessness is admirable but he has also missed more than he has scored this campaign and it cost United in their two Premier League defeats.
Defeat was not expected to against Derby – even when he missed the target again in the 24th minute.
Mata also finished meekly from Ander Herrera’s perceptive pass and Ashley Young pinged the post from a corner in a one-sided first half.
As half-time approached, a United supporter in front of the press box sardonically screamed ‘Attack, attack, attack, attack, attack –’ alas, Pogba was sitting on the opposite side of the ground.
Mourinho mainly stayed in the dugout during the first period, but patrolled the technical area in the second.
In his programme notes that would have generated more attention but for the Pogba story, Mourinho reminded there is ‘a lesson that some boys are not learning – every team that play Manchester United are playing the game of their lives.’
Some still did not get the memo as Diogo Dalot was lured inside and the unattended Harry Wilson forced Romero into a smart stop on 53 minutes.