MAGUIRE FIRES
United see off 10-man Canaries with skipper’s strike
NORWICH CITY may be effectively doomed to the Championship next season. Yet they won’t depart the elite without a fight. An FA Cup tie that started in timid fashion, ended in drama. United, seemingly in control when they claimed a 51st-minute lead, instead relinquished control of the game when a Todd Cantwell equaliser took the game into extra time.
Even then the odds were further stacked in United’s favour when, in the dying minutes of normal time, Timm Klose had wrestled Odion Ighalo, United’s goalscorer, to the ground, rather than allow him a chance to win the game.
Against 10 men, the imbalance was slightly ridiculous. By the end, United were playing with a front four of Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial, Ighalo and Marcus Rashford. With full-backs pushing on, Nemanja Matic — nominally a centre-half — and Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba in midfield, it was as close to all-out attack as is possible to get. Sir Alex Ferguson would have approved.
And it was fitting that, with just two minutes remaining when United had their reward, it was supposedly their only real defender on the pitch who was the furthest man forward.
Pogba played in a delightful ball which Ighalo chased down well and cut back into a crowded area.
Martial got a touch but it was the unfortunate Ben Godfrey, guilty of a glaring miss earlier, who made the crucial deflection that allowed the ball to bobble across goal.
Amid the scramble, Harry Maguire swung out a leg, connected and Tim Krul was beaten. A captain’s role, he was submerged beneath his team-mates in the eerie silence now familiar to lockdown football. United march on to an FA Cup semi-final, two cups still within their sights. Norwich merely have relegation to dwell upon.
Despite the inevitability of the hosts’ demotion to the second tier next season, Carrow Road would have been abuzz on an evening like this, their first FA Cup quarter-final for 28 years.
As such, it was hard to enter into the spirit of the occasion with just a few scouts, analysts and media dotted around.
While there was plenty of earnest endeavour from both teams in the opening 45 minutes, there was precious little quality and zero shots on goal.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Juan Mata was robbed in midfield and Kenny McLean surged forward that there was anticipation and a shot of any kind. Sadly, Scotland midfielder McLean quickly doused any nascent excitement by skying his shot high into the stands.
There was a better chance for Norwich on 44 minutes, when Cantwell broke into space down the right and squared the ball for Lukas Rupp. As he lined up his shot, Maguire launched his body in front of the ball and blocked a likely goal. Even then the ball dropped to Emi Buendia and Luke Shaw was required to perform a second block.
However, those two chances gave a somewhat misleading perspective on the half in which United had 68-per-cent possession.
The visitors’ issue was that, other than Fernandes’ forward passes, much of it was used unwisely.
The sight of Martial, Rashford, Greenwood and Pogba on the bench promised something better for later. But United’s first-half performance was more about industry than inspiration.
Possession, though, should eventually produce opportunities. United’s came in the 51st minute. Maguire, far up the pitch, drilled in a ball for Shaw, who drove on and skipped past Buenida with ease.
Shaw cut the ball back into a crowded area where a prod from Mata forced it into the path of a lurking Igahlo, who swivelled and raised his foot to direct it past Krul.
Five goals now for the Nigerian, all in cup games, and what seemed like a desperate winter signing looks a touch more considered now.
With Greenwood and Rashford coming off the bench, United had a platform to go on and win convincingly. Yet Norwich found inspiration in adversity.
On 69 minutes, a swirling Buendia free-kick was deflected by Fernandes into the Godfrey’s path. But the centre-half’s brain was scrambled, running beyond the ball and deflecting it away from three yards out when he needed just the merest touch to score.
No matter. Two minutes later, Onel Hernandez was allowed to cut inside from the right and Buendia eased the ball on to Cantwell.
Sizing up his chance from 25 yards, he went for swerve rather
than power, the ball bending past Maguire and tricking Sergio Romero as it bent past him and in for an equaliser.
Maguire’s extra-time strike was to rescue United, though, and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: ‘It is cup football for you. The game was not the greatest spectacle but I felt we kept the ball okay but did not threaten or create chances.
‘We’re delighted to be in the last four and got a good workout for many of the players. Nice for Harry Maguire to get the winner.
‘Many of these players did not play the last game and now have 90 or 120 minutes in their legs. We have been drawn away every round, so have done well to get so far.
‘We did make many changes. We still think that the players who play 120 minutes are fit enough for
Brighton on Tuesday. I did not make it easy for the players.
‘We had two days to prepare for this game but the rhythm and tempo was not there but we are happy to be through.
‘It is great to have the option to rotate. Anthony Martial came on and did brilliantly but Odion Ighalo gives me a chance to rotate and he is a proven goalscorer and played his part in both goals.’
Maguire admitted: ‘We weren’t at our best, but that’s what happens in cup games sometimes.’
NORWICH (4-4-1-1): Krul; Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Emi (Duda 91) Lewis (Idah 118); McLean, Tettey, Rupp (Hernandez 62), Emi; Cantwell (Trybull 90); Pukki (Drmic 71). Subs (not used): Vrancic, Leitner, Stiepermann, McGovern. Sent off: Klose.
MAN UTD (4-3-1-2): Romero; Dalot (Williams 63), Bailly (Martial 96), Maguire, Shaw; McTominay (Matic 78),
Fred (Pogba 78), Mata (Greenwood 63); Bruno Fernandes; Lingard (Rashford 63), Ighalo. Subs (not
used): De Gea, Andreas Pereira, Fosu-Mensah, Williams. Booked: Bruno Fernandes.
Referee: Jon Moss.