KEEPING THE EUROPEAN DREAM ALIVE – FOR NOW…
Manchester United 1 West Ham 0
Manchester United enjoyed a sixth round FA Cup 2-1 win over West Ham in the last season at Upton Park in April 2016, though only after a replay that they had earned with a hotly disputed injury time equaliser. They went on to win the FA Cup that season, beating Crystal Palace 2-1 at Wembley after extra time. West Ham won 1-0 at Old Trafford in an FA Cup 4th Round tie in January 2001, and as Clive Tyldesley said at the time, ‘It will not be Manchester United’s year, again.’ So which is it to be tonight?
Paul Tierney is tonight’s referee, which is good news as he refereed the 3-3 away draw at Spurs this season and the 1-1 league draw here last April. So looks like extra time. Maybe penalties. He hasn’t officiated when we’ve lost, so that has to count for something.
The first ten minutes produce no clear chances, as both sides look a little cautious. Martial then gets in behind the Hammers’ defence and only fails to hit the target thanks to a fantastic block by Ogbonna, who is worryingly static for a few minutes following the block. It’s soon clear that his time on the pitch is over, and Issa Diop replaces him, one player down after quarter of an hour.
Matic blazes an early chance over, and the commentator helpfully points out that its thirteen months since he scored. He says it almost as an explanation of the miss rather than as part of a stat offensive. He’s also revealed that Moyes has never won here as a visiting manager. Such stats are made to be broken. Lindelöf’s header from a second successive corner is brilliantly tipped onto the post by Fabianski. He is the only West Ham player to have won this trophy, in 2014 with Arsenal, his last game for the club, ending on the upanski. On 35 minutes, West Ham win their first corner, but all it leads to is a clash of heads between Martial and Diop. West Ham mix it up at the beginning of the second half, having had to make a ’concussion substitute’ after Diop’s head clash. Fredericks and Johnson come on and West Ham reshape a back three. In the first minute Yarmolenko clashes with Lindelöf but thankfully recovers. Losing three without reply wouldn’t be doctor’s hors d’oeuvres.
Johnson and Fredericks offer pace down the flanks, and one decent cross might be all that’s needed to settle this one. Now Rashford gets a clear chance in the six yard box, but Fabianski is equal to the effort. Mipo Odubeko is warming up for Yarmolenko, an eighteen year old ex-Man United player who scored thirty odd goals for their youth team, and who wasn’t even mentioned as a striking option on the bench by the pundits earlier, presumably because they’d never heard of him. West Ham take on the pace of the game, earning a couple of corners and finding space on the pitch to put some moves together. Johnson and Fredericks have definitely changed the feel of the play since coming on. Curious that West Ham have done this without a colossal amount of possession.
As Fernandes warms up in the 71st minute, West Ham earn a corner, but United have done their homework on the set plays and have many back to do the necessary blocking. With a quarter of an hour left, Fernandes and McTominay are brought on to make the difference. As the seconds ticked away, I start to think about penalties. It’s no way to plan a result, but is as effective as any way to win a cup tie. Dawson has been immense in defence this evening, letting very little through, and a major reason why the tie is still goalless. Manchester United have scored twelve goals in their last two league games here, but with eighty minutes gone, nothing as yet tonight. Fernandes manages a shot a few minutes later, but Rice blocks it and it spoons over the bar. Coufal has done a job on Rashford tonight it would seem, the England striker having very little to show for his eighty minutes on the pitch. Edison Cavani is warming up for Manchester United, a Uruguayan of some esteem, and not anyone you want to see the opposition introduce even at this late stage. West Ham’s response is to prepare Benrahma to make an even later appearance. Here he comes, on 88 minutes, still to open his goals account. Now would be as good a time as any. A last minute corner reaches the head of Dawson but he can’t get any power or direction on the ball. So we move to extra time.
United bring Shaw and Williams on for more fresh legs, but there still seems to be a lack of urgency in their play. Can West Ham keep their shape? Manchester United grab a rare corner in the 94th minute, but Hammers have the numbers to neutralise the dead ball threat. In the madness I can hear Crystal Palace fans singing, ‘We’re red and blue…’ Have the BBC’s crowd effects department played all the West Ham options? The inevitable transpires. Rice loses the ball in an attack and Manchester United break with four on four, Rashford setting up McTominay to put the home side ahead. Such a pity to have given the ball away when it wasn’t necessary, and to be punished so clinically. So what can West Ham do with twenty minutes left?
Coufal makes a rare unforced error and Manchester United only fail to capitalise because of Fernandes’ misplaced pass at the end of the move. So disappointing to have demonstrated extreme discipline over ninety minutes only to buckle in extra time. Most of the team look absolutely shattered. Johnson has looked impressive in patches, but even imagining a goal currently feels like a draining uphill task. So Manuel Lanzini is the remaining substitution choice to save West Ham’s season. Odubeko is a substituted substitute, and Lanzini is his replacement. A minute from time the chance comes. Lanzini finds Johnson, but Benrahma can’t dispatch his excellent cross. What an account opener that would have been. All in all, though, it says something when Hammers’ fans are disappointed at what has been a decent cup run and a narrow defeat at Old Trafford, where they haven’t won for some time.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 21 Angelo Ogbonna, 15 Craig Dawson, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 5 Vladimir Coufal, 41 Declan Rice, 16 Mark Noble (c), 28 Tomas Souček, 18 Pablo Fornals, 20 Jarrod Bowen, 7 Andriy Yarmolenko
Substitutes: 21 Issa Diop, 31 Ben Johnson, 24 Ryan Fredericks, 4 Fabian Balbuena, 45 Mipo Odubeko, 9 Saïd Benrahma, 10 Manuel Lanzini
