United fall short again in curse of semi-final
UNITED are the last team to have beaten City in the League Cup and it was so long ago their then manager is in charge of this year’s other finalists – Tottenham’s Jose Mourinho.
What will smart more for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is that it’s four successive semifinal defeats in the space of a year and his side’s mental block could have ramifications for their fledgling championship challenge.
Their mentality, fortified by Bruno Fernandes, is still not a winning one.
None of their summer recruits started against City and it is against the elite that United’s lack of reinforcements have been exposed this season.
That could ultimately separate them from also-rans and winners over the next fourand-a-half months.
Solskjaer waited until the 74th minute to make his first change and all it takes is one injury or suspension to leave his attack looking threadbare.
Edinson Cavani is nine years older than Anthony Martial and would have offered more energy had he not been suspended.
The Frenchman only completed the duration with Solskjaer unable to call upon an alternative striker. Juan Mata and Donny van de Beek have had one start between them in the last month and Mason Greenwood’s introduction was further confirmation he is afflicted with second season syndrome. Bruno Fernandes’s wand had exhausted its spark and United had no other magician to inspire them. Solskjaer has outsmarted Pep Guardiola on memorable occasions, but the most recent was 10 months ago and United’s big-game nous has deserted them so far this term. Their only scalps – Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig – were blemished by costly defeats in the reverse legs.
Ironically, City sealed a fourth straight Carabao Cup final partly via a player they failed to woo in Harry Maguire, guilty of watching the ball and not the man – John Stones. Maguire was not solely blameworthy but his verbose authority was not transmitted to the defending for Phil Foden’s freekick. Actions speak louder than words. Pandemic football has thrown up scores of surprises and another is that John Stones is having a superior season than his England ally Maguire. Roy Keane despaired at the United captain’s embrace of Stones following last month’s derby and if only Maguire was as tight inside the six-yard area. He protested at the linesman, if only to temporarily deflect attention from his dithering.
United are certain to come uncomfortably close to the four-year mark of their last trophy parade and this is a chance to take stock ahead of a pivotal week where they could usurp Liverpool at the top of the table. That is the perspective, though Solskjaer has treated the Carabao Cup with as much regard as his predecessor.
There was more attacking in the first five minutes than the whole of the dreary December derby, with three goals disallowed inside the first 25 minutes.
City, buoyed by their schooling of Chelsea, were not as respectful of United with their use of Fernandinho as the sole pivot. Phil Foden gave Aaron Wan-Bissaka such a chasing the United right-back might have asked him to switch wings with Raheem Sterling.
United coach Kieran McKenna gets louder whenever City are at Old Trafford and his choreographing of the press was amplified on the pitch by Maguire, bellowing the
United are certain to come uncomfortably close to the four-year mark of their last trophy Samuel Luckhurst
names of team-mates to charge as high as possible.
Maguire was quick to demand a card for the serial disruptor Fernandinho that was predictably ignored by the lenient referee Martin Atkinson.
Solskjaer did not struggle to make himself heard when Shaw was teased out of position by the crafty Sterling to spark a breakaway, only blemished by Ilkay Gundogan’s offside status for his caressed strike.
Foden was also careless in straying too far away from Wan-Bissaka prior to nutmegging Dean Henderson.
Almost six years to the day of his last and only start in the FA Youth Cup at Old Trafford, Dean Henderson had a similarly-sized audience for his competitive debut at his ‘home’ of nearly a decade.
City beat him three times in the first half, yet the only legitimate hit from Kevin de Bruyne struck the post and United rode out the pressure to play the game on their terms, withstanding pressure and depending on the counter, only errant touches from Rashford, Pogba or Fernandes halted the forages.
Rashford went far too easy on auxiliary left-back Aleks Zinchenko all night.
Solskjaer mastered United’s pragmatic neutering of City across three derbies last season but they were initially slow to contain their counter-attacks. Even a coach as storied as Guardiola is modest enough to take a leaf from another coach’s manual and United’s victories last season have influenced his development of City this season.
Both of their goals came from setpieces.
Fernandinho’s clincher was greeted uproariously by the City staff spread across the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand in the absence of their away followers.
Darren Fletcher, in the press box with the United analysts, was within earshot and will have to channel that chastening experience into his coaching if United are to chisel more years onto their honours’ board.
Instead Mourinho will be able to bookend City’s League Cup run.