NATURAL BRAWN WINNER
Lukaku flexes muscles with a brace to sink Huddersfield as United shrug off VAR farce to reach the quarter-finals
IN THE end, none of it mattered. The great debate over Paul Pogba’s form and position became irrelevant once the player had been declared sick and unable to play. And the now-traditional FA Cup VAR controversy kept conspiracy theorists busy for a while, but ultimately fizzled out into an interminable discussion over whether a player’s hand was adjacent to another player’s knee and therefore playing him onside.
All were rendered obsolete by Romelu Lukaku. His two goals, almost identical in the sheer pace and determination he demonstrated, ensured United navigated a tricky tie. When Lukaku is playing like this, powering past defenders while simultaneously fighting them off and applying clinical finishes, all at once, he looks every inch a Manchester United player.
There have been times this season when his status as a great centre-forward, the type United demand, has been in doubt. Here, though, in a game United effectively played on the counter-attack for long periods, he provided a convincing case for his credentials.
The Belgian was simply too good for a spirited Huddersfield side. If Tom Ince or Rajiv van La Parra, had some of the same composure, the plot might have enjoyed a twist or two. As it was United, despite being slack for much of the first half and despite being embroiled in the latest VAR controversy, eventually secured a relatively easy passage into the FA Cup quarter-finals, taking a step closer to the trophy they are most likely to win this season.
United looked as though it might be a stroll. The number of empty seats in all but the United end suggested that Huddersfield’s fans were not, at least, as engaged with the FA Cup fifth round as they are with Premier League survival.
And when Lukaku struck an early blow, it felt like it might be fatal. Nemanja Matic found Lukaku, who touched it on to Juan Mata who in turn played Lukaku back in. From there, the Belgian demonstrated his strength, simply muscling his way past Chris Schindler, then tricking Jonas Lossl by pulling the ball inside him at the near post. Three minutes gone and it felt like United had subdued any cup fever.
Yet it did not turn out that way. Despite being forewarned by the 2-1 defeat here in October, United seemed to forget that they would need to out-compete Huddersfield for 90 minutes. With Philip Billing controlling midfield and with Florent Hadergjonaj seemingly having free rein to run past Alexis Sanchez and Luke Shaw, United retreated on to the back foot.
Indeed, Ince might have levelled as early as the sixth minute but he pulled Billing’s through ball just wide. Ince went even closer in the 33rd minute when his superb driving run from midfield saw him meet Hadergjonaj’s cross. Unfortunately, he mistimed the final metre of his run and failed to finish. Yet the warning signs had been apparent for some time.
United’s midfield had not improved in the absence of Pogba. Instead, Huddersfield dominated. Though it all seemed to be in vain when Ashley Young broke impressively down the right and crossed for Mata, who deftly skipped past Lossl and turned the ball into the net from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time
United were celebrating and the goal seemed good but referee Kevin Friend was checking with his video assistant, Neil Swarbrick. As ever, the wait seemed
interminable. And for TV viewers, there was the farcical spectacle of seemingly bendy lines on the screen being used to determine the decision, though Swarbrick clarified that was not the case.
At the end of it all, Mata’s torso was marginally offside. It was the correct decision even if it would probably never have been spotted without the VAR.
Mata said: ‘I’m up for VAR and think it is good for football, especially to make important decisions and make it a little bit fairer. But it seems like today it was not a very clear decision against us and me. The good thing was that it was not needed [the goal] because we won anyway but I think we all wished it was quicker. I celebrated and it didn’t count.’
Huddersfield began the second half with the energy and enthusiasm of a reprieved man. They pinned United back again and forced a succession of free-kicks on the edge of the box. From one, Ince’s strike deflected off the wall and hung, for a second, in front of Van La Parra. Yet his volley was hopelessly misjudged.
And Huddersfield did not even really have time to rue their miss. Five minutes later, in a near carbon copy of the first goal, Lukaku was again out-running and overpowering their defence. This time Sanchez was the provider. Yet the timing of the run and the ability to outpace defenders while also holding them at bay and finish clinically is Lukaku’s superpower. In that mode, he looks unstoppable and his 55th-minute goal took the game beyond Huddersfield.
From thereon in, United found some composure. Sanchez was flourishing, Michael Carrick got a grip of the midfield and Lukaku seemingly bullied at will. They largely contented themselves with controlling possession and ensuring Huddersfield were kept in their place. But that was enough to draw the sting from the game.