2018 FA Cup Final - Manchester United 0-1 Chelsea

Manchester United 0-1 Chelsea (Hazard 22 pen)

 

United slipped meekly to defeat in the Cup Final, going out while barely landing a punch on an unspectacular Chelsea team on a spirit-sapping day at Wembley. It was grim, and a bit boring. So much attacking talent, so little threat and bite. A frustrating season ending in a quite fitting way. Too slow, too scared, and second best. Shit.

What’s there to say when we lose like that? It wasn’t a 4-0 romp, we had been defeated only by a penalty from Eden Hazard, and the possession and shots statistics were in our favour. But don’t let the numbers fool you into thinking United were at all impressive out there. It was robotic, stunted, and downright dull. They looked out of ideas too early and energetic too late, a sad end to the season given the optimism with which it had begun. 

United were the favourites going into the last domestic fixture of the season, having finished 3 places above Chelsea in the table. I was very nervous at the start, but then I always am in occasions such as these. Post-Ferugson, it’s no longer a given that United will always be making finals and consistently playing at Wembley, so there is no way I’m turning my nose up at any cup, especially when we’re in the final. Having been at Wembley myself last month to see us dispatch an in-form Spurs, I was quietly confident we could do the same to Chelsea.

The good news for United was that Martial and Lukaku hadn’t been ruled out as had been feared, and were available. The bad news was that neither started – although Martial probably would not have anyway, even if he was 100% fit. Fellaini missed out as well. It was a blow for United to be missing their main goalscorer, as much for his hold up play and bullying of centre-halves as anything else. With Chelsea, a physical game was expected, so to line up instead with Rashford was a bit of weakness.

Not that I thought so before kick-off. While Lukaku starting on the bench was not perfect, I was excited to see young Rash run at Chelsea’s backline. I remembered how he had led the line brilliantly against Chelsea in our 2-0 home win in April 2017, springing Conte’s offside trap regularly. On paper, a front three of Jesse Lingard, Rashford and Alexis Sanchez looked dynamic, pacey and fluid. So apart from Lukaku it was the same team that beat Spurs in the semi – which meant Eric Bailly, who most think is our best defender, was left on the bench. Smalling and Jones had credit in the bank, sure, but the treatment of Bailly by Mourinho in recent weeks has been utterly baffling.

Chelsea went defensive, going with only two forward thinking players really, with Fabregas used mainly to retain possession. Bakayoko has been one of the worst signings across Europe for the 17/18 season, but Antonio Conte placed faith in the Frenchman to make sure his team didn’t get outnumbered In the middle of the park, resisting the temptation to pick Pedro or Willian. Having scored in the semi over Southampton, January purchase Olivier Giroud was preferred over record signing Alvaro Morata.

Chelsea started the better, with Hazard finding space on the left flank on the counter after United had given the ball away carelessly, and shooting at goal with his left foot after running at Jones. De Gea made a smart stop, and United cleared, but that was pretty much that for the opening exchanges. It was a typical final start to be honest, with both sides wanting to ease themselves into the game, and very little in the way of shots on goal. The cagey start didn’t stop both sides gifting the other possession constantly with sloppy errant passes. For the Cup final, it was a game desperately low on quality. It needed a goal really.

It soon got one. Chelsea won the ball back in their half and Fabregas had time to set Hazard away with a long pass; his first touch was exemplary and suddenly Phil Jones was on the back foot. The England world cup defender just about kept pace with Hazard but was unable to get goalside, and decided to go for a last-ditch tackle. I couldn’t really blame him, but the execution was clumsy and it was penalty and a yellow card. From the spot there’s few who are calmer than Hazard and the Belgian duly rolled the ball into the net, sending De Gea the other way.

United initially reacted like I’d want. Herrera pushed up from his ersatz right-back position (to nullify Hazard, and make it easier for him to be man-marked, which had already proven flawed when Chelsea’s star man moved to the right to create the goal) and United created a chance for Pogba from 25 yards, who shot wide. It was the first effort from United to test Chelsea’s defence and keeper.

 


There was very little width for United. Chelsea were extraordinarily compact

Why were United so lacking in attacking vigour? Well, for starters Rashford was having a stinker. The ball was bouncing off him, he was picking the wrong passes, and he was getting outmuscled. Worst of all he wasn’t making the runs in behind that could’ve been so dangerous; instead he came deep, or ran the channels. This often led to the absurd situation where United had the ball in a crossing position but the only man in the box was Sanchez, a man never likely to win a battle in the air with 3 centre-backs. That’s if we had anyone in the box at all, sometimes they had no one to mark and United were simply trying pot-shots from long range.

It didn’t help that Lingard was having a poor start as well, as he wasn’t either wide or forward enough to impact the game like he should. With Sanchez drifting infield as well, width was like gold dust for United. Ashley Young was enterprising enough, happy to take defenders on, but is always hamstrung by his general lack of quality – a problem for Chelsea also, regarding Victor Moses. We were ponderous, too, recycling the ball 30 yards from goal, always taking too many touches, waiting for someone to try a mazy run or an ambitious through ball which seldom happened.

The first half ended just as United’s best moment had come, as someone did indeed perform a mazy run. Pogba motored with the ball through the centre and played a one-two with Sanchez before laying it off to Rashford, who only contrived to scuff his attempted shot straight at a Chelsea defender.

At half-time the overriding feeling was that this was an awful match. There had only been two real chances – the penalty, and the other aforementioned Hazard shot. As good as the Belgian and Fabregas had been, it wasn’t enough to escape the reality that it was an utterly dreadful game, the opposite of what you would want in the showpiece of English football. It had also gone against the theme of recent Cup finals, which have generally been entertaining; look no further than United’s incident-packed triumph over Crystal Palace in 2016 for proof.

Mourinho had obviously got into them at half-time as United started the second half with great intensity, determined to get back on terms. From minute 45-65, United had a great spell, pinning Chelsea back and looking like they were going to score eventually. Of course, Chelsea could afford to sit deep having gone in front so early, and it suited the personnel they had out there. Their attacks in the second half were exclusively counters, with long passes looking for the incisive movement of Hazard.

Valencia, who had been unbelievably ineffective in the first half despite having heaps of the ball, finally made a forward run inside Marcos Alonso picked out by Herrera, also making his first risky pass. We were in behind, but instead of Valencia going for goal or picking out Sanchez he pulled it back straight to Fabregas. Stupid prick. Sanchez instantly won it back with a tigerish sliding tackle and the ball broke for Rashford 20 yards out, who forced a save from Courtois with his powerful but a bit too central strike. The crowd were up for it now and Kante and Rudiger both made vital interceptions just as United were breaking through.

United won a lot of set-pieces in this period, with Chelsea under pressure and looking to break the rhythm of United with fouls. Unfortunately most of them were taken by Rashford, who booted it straight at the first man most of the time. It was mind-numbing to see him on those duties when he was having such a poor day at sending them in, not even considering that as a forward over 6 feet, you would probably want him in the box anyway. Mind you, he did pull out one top delivery from the right when his free-kick was converted by Sanchez on the follow up, although he was offside. Still, United were pushing, with Young starting to play very high up the pitch. Matic had a 30 yarder parried by the rock-solid Courtois.

But United gradually fizzled out, the zip fading from our passing, the lack of pace in our play telling. It was the Blues that had the next big chance with Kante skipping through the tackles to set up Alonso who was denied by De Gea, before Moses hit the ball at Young’s arm in the area. Really, it was too close for the ref to give another penalty.

Out of nowhere came an opportunity for Rashford after a training ground move, with Pogba finding Lingard in his favourite pocket. He let the ball run before slipping in his best mate one-on-one. It was by no means the easiest of chances with a massive keeper coming out and Rashford having to stretch a bit, but it had to go in. Lukaku, I suspect, would’ve found the net with it. Instead, Courtois saved and Mourinho responded by hooking Rashford and Lingard. Taking off Jesse was a tad puzzling in my opinion, just as the number 14 was getting into the game.

So Lukaku and Martial (left out of the French World Cup squad in midweek, prompting more rumours of his exit) were on. I was screaming for Mata as well for Herrera, who seemed to not be aware we were losing, given the fact he wasn’t moving forward with the ball and was still playing the safest passes he could. There are times when Herrera just isn’t needed and today was one of them. His main job was to stop Hazard, who had put us behind - although the Spaniard couldn’t be blamed for the goal which wasn’t in his area. But then, what was he on for now? If Mata had been given more time, he could’ve found a key pass to unlock the door. Instead Herrera finished the game, one of his least memorable in a red shirt. He wasn’t being helped by his captain Valencia though, who was constantly turning back into midfield when he had the chance to get to the by-line.

By now Conte had instructed his team to give up on attacking, and you couldn’t blame them. The only threat was Phil Jones getting injured after a robust challenge by Giroud required him to put on a head bandage, the only thing the dreamy Frenchman did all game. It was all United, but it was all in front of the defence. We weren’t isolating their players or giving them different things to think about. We became increasingly route one, but Cahill and Rudiger were having a comfortable time of it.

The biggest chance fell to Paul Pogba, who screwed a free header wide from a Martial corner. That was the moment really, the only time the Chelsea team switched off. The £89m man had the freedom of Wembley, he had to do better, to at least get it on target. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Chelsea controlled the last 10 minutes, wasting time expertly with their subs taking decades to complete. Martial after a decent run had a little opening, but he found row J. Late sub Mata, of all people, conceded two corners in the dying minutes as the Chelsea supporters loudly cheered every single throw in and corner won, delighting in their players forcing United back, further and further away from a goal that would take it to extra time.



Chelsea celebrate with the famous old trophy

 

The whistle went and Conte was jubilant. For all that this season has been a failure for the Blues (not enough has been said about the reigning champions spending north of £200m,  finishing 5^th and 23 points worse than last season) their manager deserved this moment I think, given the turmoil he’s been faced with off the field. It was his first domestic cup as a manager. Even at their worst, Chelsea seem to be able to churn out trophies, exemplified by Cahill lifting the cup after a difficult season for him personally. Although United in mitigation could say De Gea had nothing to do, Chelsea could respond by saying they never really looked in trouble.

Like it or not, it’s likely if Fellaini had been available for the last 20 minutes we could’ve nicked an equaliser. Chelsea were very comfortable in the air against United, as a half-fit Lukaku couldn’t impose himself as usual against their big defenders. If the big man had been there, Chelsea would’ve been forced to mark him, perhaps even assigning two on him, in turn creating space for others. In the 93^rd minute Matic tamely headed over; if that had been Fellaini it could’ve been different. Though the very idea that United missed Fellaini out there suggests how shocking they were.

While Valencia is hardly the biggest problem at United, in football today the full-backs are so important, and indeed no one got the ball more for United in threatening positions than him and Young. I really don’t want to watch a lot more of him receiving the ball, doing that little leg shuffle, then passing backwards. The captain for the day was really pathetic, seemingly unable to dribble anymore, offering nothing. Young was giving it his all, offering his teammates an option, but as I’ve already said, he just isn’t that good, willing but unable to change the game.

Sanchez has played 18 times for United since he arrived, and has scored a grand total of 3 goals, one of which was a penalty rebound. It is not reactionary to say he has been downright crap for us given his handsome wages. The man has an awesome record at Wembley – I saw it for myself in the semi-final, when he was excellent – but he did fuck all in the final, like in a lot of games he has played so far for us. Spurs and City away apart, he has not been the player we all expected him to be, or saw at Arsenal. In the summer, he will have his first extended break from football since 2013. Let’s hope he comes back refreshed, because more of this will be hard to accept from such a talented player.

It’s not just Sanchez. Pogba as well was disappointing. He was decent, don’t get me wrong, helping us progress forward and running hard all afternoon. But where was an imposing display from our best player in what turned out to be the biggest game of the season? Where was the Lingard from the winter? But most all, where was the master of finals, the serial winner that is Jose Mourinho? He had his own tactics based on organisation and concentration used against him by a man who he had a spat with earlier on in the campaign. I hope it hurt him, as ending the season trophyless should hurt all of them, even though there are clear signs of progress from last season.

For us not to score against a team playing like *that* is slightly embarrassing. It’s one thing playing on the counter but there were essentially only two attacking players in their line-up. They were sharp in the first half, decisive in the penalty incident, and to be fair, retained their focus and concentration against the almost constant United possession in the 2^nd half. They did deserve their eighth FA Cup, even if for the neutral it was like watching paint dry.

It’s been a good season, generally, but it has definitely been tarnished by this schoolboy performance. Thankfully the world cup arrives to stop us from licking our wounds all summer.

United (4-3-3) De Gea 6.5; Valencia 5.5, Smalling 6, Jones 5 (Mata 87), Young 6; Herrera 4.5, Matic 5.5, Pogba 6; Lingard 5 (Martial 73, 4), Rashford 3.5 (Lukaku 73, 5), Sanchez 5.

Chelsea (5-3-2) Courtois 7.5; Moses 6, Azpilicueta 6, Cahill 7, Rudiger 7, Alonso 5.5; Fabregas 6.5, Kante 7, Bakayoko 5; Giroud 4.5 (Morata 89), Hazard 7 (Willian 90+1).

Yeovil 0-4 Manchester United FA Cup 4th Round

Yeovil 0-4 Manchester United (Rashford 41, Herrera 61, Lingard 89, Lukaku 90+3)

Some debuts live long in the memory, like Rooney’s vs Fenerbahce, or Ronaldo’s vs Bolton. Other debuts barely ever register even to those who were there. Whatever he does in his Old Trafford career, there won’t be many people who will turn to the side and wistfully reminisce about Alexis Sanchez’s bow at Huish Park, of all places. Yeovil fought hard on their evening in the sun, with the match live on the BBC on Friday night, complete with Arsenal alumnus Martin Keown sniping at our new number 7 at every possible moment. But United were business-like, professional and progressed quite comfortably into the 5^th Round of the Cup, without ever utterly dominating Yeovil. 
That was noteworthy as Yeovil sat 21^st in League Two at kick-off, the lowest ranked team remaining in the draw, but the much anticipated giant-killing was never likely, even though the Red Devils had a nervy first 20 minutes on a cabbage patch of a pitch that looked more suited to a primary school field than a stage befitting Sanchez.

The new buy was obviously the star attraction, his name and picture splattered everywhere, be it the match programme, the newspapers, and the TV trailers. Even United’s own propaganda machine seemed to forget there were 10 other players momentarily. But then, if you weren’t an ABU weirdo, you knew what the result was going to be; it was only natural the ex-Arsenal winger was granted the column inches. What were they going to write about – Yeovil? The Somerset team were pretty much ignored in the build-up, not that they minded much with the TV pounds flowing through the clubs’ coffers. It was three years ago that United had been here in the 3^rd round, with Herrera scoring that great instinctive goal on the turn. The Basque midfielder must surely put Yeovil just behind Zaragoza in his list of favourite clubs.

Yeovil started brightly, pressing a nervous looking United, who had made 10 changes from the win over Burnley with only Juan Mata keeping his place. (The most important players - Pogba, Jones, De Gea, Valencia and MARTIAL (!!!!) - were left at home.) Gradually though the team from the higher division found their feet and got the passing game flowing. Sanchez, stationed on the left but always looking to roam, seemed desperate to impress and whenever he got possession he showed off that burst of acceleration that has left defenders behind all over the world for the best part of a decade. I’m well aware it was only bloody Yeovil, but there was something about the way the tempo rose when the ball fell to him that was reminiscent of early Ronaldo. He also attempted audacious switches of play and through balls looking for the centre-forward Rashford, but most were over-hit and drifted out of play, leading to mocking cheers from the home crowd. Ah, yes. Our new man was booed throughout, getting a bit of the Sterling treatment. I do think if you asked the Yeovil fans (the ones who only swelled the crowd to see United, not the regulars) afterwards why they were giving him such a hostile reception they wouldn’t have a fucking clue, with a 52-year-old bloke probably muttering something about Sanchez being a ‘mercenary’. Never mind, they won’t see another game for a couple of years – at least until the next big home cup tie.

Still, at least he was trying things, as it couldn’t be avoided that a very expensive United team were being, shall we say, thoughtful in their passing. That’s a euphemism for slow and dull, by the way. It took until the deadlock was broken to assert our dominance but the goal itself was lucky, with Rashford’s poor touch from Sanchez’s ball falling to a defender, who then contrived to allow the Mancunian kid to steal in and tuck away the opener after beckoning his keeper to come and clear the ball when it was clear he had no intention of doing so. Forget League Two, this was barely Essex Combined Counties Division Four (West) level defending. How can you have such a lack of communication? The away end didn’t care, breathing a sigh of relief knowing the game was already done. I would suggest Rashford, going through a rotten run of form for the first time in his precocious career, didn’t mind how scrappy his goal was either.

For all the shouting, it pretty much was. Sure, Darmian, making his first appearance since the humbling at Bristol City, contrived to make some League Two cloggers look good with his flat fucking feet. Moreover, a couple of agricultural reducers challenges were put in on Alexis to the smug glee of Keown. But it was easy street for us, with the home crowd now quiet unless Sanchez had the ball, spending their time taking photos of the players they were abusing a few minutes before. The United fans created the atmosphere, with special attention given to Michael Carrick and the ‘hard to believe it’s not Scholes’ chant in celebration of the return of the club captain. After a heart scare, the lanky Geordie was back, calming the midfield down, admittedly against the gentlest of opponents. But no matter, for it was his first outing since Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup in September, and it was just nice to see him come through unscathed.

The game still needed a second goal though, and it duly came from a slick counter from our own corner. The ball was cleared to Mata who expertly controlled before waiting for Sanchez to carry the ball forward. Rashford made the decoy run, and the Chile superstar made the right decision to pick out Herrera, who controlled before converting with his left foot. Cue an arms-pumping celebration from another player who will take confidence from a goal after a hard time of his own recently.

Our new signing had showed off his footwork and dribbling skills but he had tired. (only natural after not starting recent Arsenal games with the move imminent) A bit more zest was needed and Mourinho, on his 55^th birthday, sent on Lingard and Lukaku after a couple of chances were spurned. There was a wait for the next goal, but it was worth it, for it was yet another sublime individual goal from Lingard, his 12^th of the season. How can you not love this guy, academy graduate and all, when he runs into the crowd after a scoring the third against Yeovil. No meaningless games for this lad. His determination to make an impact would not have gone unnoticed back on the dugout, with Mourinho likely to be deciding between Lingard and Mata to make way for Sanchez. After this run and finish from the Warrington wizard, the Spanish blogger surely sits on the bench at Wembley against Spurs in midweek.

The fourth goal came almost straight away with Herrera spotting the run of Marcos Rojo, of all people, in the inside left channel and the Argentine’s cross was volleyed smartly into the roof of the net by Lukaku for yet another goal. But far more pleasing was the little run from Angel Gomes, who had come on for fellow academy kid Rashford for only his second United appearance. The u17 World Cup winner received the ball on the left and beat the defender Ribery-style only to hit the side netting. It was only a glimpse, but the confidence he plays with at such a young age is so promising. Although, he’s still a few meat and potato dinners away from taking a place in a premier league side.  

Yeovil deserve credit but our 6^th successive clean sheet was always going to happen, and United march on once more. Carrick, Gomes, the goal-scorers, and Mourinho’s new contract which was signed on Thursday – there was a lot to be content with, even without mentioning the first Chilean to play for Manchester United. But let’s finish with him anyway. It wasn’t Rooney vs Fener. It wasn’t even Hernandez in the Community Shield. But Alexis Sanchez is a Red.

United (4-3-3) Romero 7; Darmian 5.5, Lindelof 6.5, Rojo 7, Shaw 6.5; Herrera 7, Carrick 6.5, McTominay 6; Mata 6.5 (Lukaku 65, 7), Rashford 6 (Gomes 88), Sanchez 7.5 (Lingard 72, 7.5).