FaC: United 2 - 1 Aston Villa
PREVIEW
Who cares about the FA Cup? It seems that United don’t, with the manager sending out signals suggesting his interest is no more than tepid in a tournament that has seen its standing much reduced in recent years.The reasons are obvious. The influx of foreign players and managers was bound to have an impact on the English love-affair with the famous, old knock-out tournament, a format which carries less weight everywhere but in Blighty. The financial incentives of the Champions League and of the Premiership scream their importance too.
So, United will compete but the team selection will do nothing to remove the impression that Sir Alex would rather keep his powder dry for the doughty struggles ahead - Arsenal in two weeks, Lille in six weeks, Liverpool in two months and Chelsea in three.
This would explain why United might field Henrik Larsson, a striker with no Premiership experience who is aged 35 years, a strike force with the combined age of 68, a reserve keeper with one Premiership game in red and a sprinkling of second stringers, for a match against a Premiership rival.
Sir Alex will spin the changes as giving much needed game time to reserves but it still amounts to a poke in the eye for the Challenge Cup. The manager’s public statements however, proclaim the opposite. “The FA Cup is the FA Cup,” said Ferguson. “We are all looking forward to it. Hopefully we can get a good run in the FA Cup. We have been in the most finals in history and I think Villa are second or third, so both clubs have a great cup record so it should be an exciting cup tie. We want to progress and we want to do well in this cup. Hopefully we can navigate this round.
“Obviously with the final being at the new Wembley everyone will want to get there at some point and hopefully we can do it this year. I have had a lot of disappointments and great moments in the cup in my 20 years here, and had some fantastic campaigns in the cup, some really exciting matches.
“If you get a home draw it is always the best you can hope for. With a Premiership club coming it won’t be easy, as they are a very committed team and under Martin O’Neill there is genuine enthusiasm running through the club. He has brought a freshness to them, so we have to galvanise ourselves for that, as this cup tie will be different to the league game a couple of weeks ago.
“Villa have come through a bad spell of form and were unlucky to lose at Charlton. Maybe the draw with Chelsea last week has helped them come out of that spell.
Sir Alex’s opposite number Martin O’Neill, sounded in pre-match interviews like he was bringing Torquay to Old Trafford. He said: “United away is a poor draw for us. We were drawn away in every round of the Carling Cup and you hoped we would get a bit of luck in the FA Cup against a side 14 leagues below us!3
Perhaps he was talking with tongue firmly in cheek. Rarely can there have been a better time to play United, with Sir Alex and the players concentration locked on Europe and the Premiership.
“If we show the same determination as against Chelsea, then we think we will give ourselves a bit of a chance,” O’Neill admitted. “It will be hard for us because United are flying, regardless of what side they put out.”
United should have enough to see off the visitors at the first time of asking. But if they don’t, will fans cry tears or just shrug their shoulders?
FA CUP RESULTS:
Everton 1 - 4 Blackburn ; Sheffield W. 1 - 1 Manchester City; Cardiff C. 0 - 0 Tottenham; Bristol R. 1 - 0 Hereford United; Stoke C. 2 - 0 Millwall; Tamworth 1 - 4 Norwich; Postp. Barnet ? - ? Colchester; Birmingham C. 2 - 2 Newcastle; Blackpool 4 - 2 Aldershot; Bristol C. 3 - 3 Coventry; Chelsea 6 - 1 Macclesfield; Chester C. 0 - 0 Ipswich T; Crystal Palace 2 - 1 Swindon; Derby County 3 - 1 Wrexham; Doncaster R. 0 - 4 Bolton; Hull C. 1 - 1 Middlesbrough; Leicester C. 2 - 2 Fulham; Nottingham F. 2 - 0 Charlton Athletic; Peterborough U. 1 - 1 Plymouth Argyle; Portsmouth 2 - 1 Wigan Athletic; Preston North End 1 - 0 Sunderland; Queens Park R. 2 - 2 Luton; Postp. Reading ? - ? Burnley; Sheffield U. 0 - 3 Swansea ; Southend U. 1 - 1 Barnsley; Torquay U. 0 - 2 Southampton; Watford 4 - 1 Stockport County; West Bromwich A. 3 - 1 Leeds; West Ham U. 3 - 0 Brighton & Hove Albion; Wolverhampton W. 2 - 2 Oldham Athletic; Liverpool 1 - 3 Arsenal
MATCH REPORT…
United 2 - 1 Villa
Larsson (55) Solskjaer (90) / Baros (73)
Two goals from Henrik Larsson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sealed a routine third round FA Cup victory and hinted at further glory to come.United were good value for their win. Sir Alex sent out a strong line up for the contest making a mockery of the pre-match feeling that this encounter would be a work-out for the fringe.
Scholes was rested but the team looked strong from back to front. All eyes were on debutant Larsson and he showed enough in the first half to suggest that his three months could be most fruitful. His football intelligence has been well advertised and it was much in evidence in the match’s early stages as United drove forward in wave after wave, Larsson and Ronney catching the eye with some delightful interchanges.
The approach play might have been pleasing but United’s efforts on goal were unthreatening to Villa’s well-marshalled defence. The match settled into a pattern of United attacks and Villa stubbornness. A Rooney twist and shot in the 29th minute had the crowd on their feet only to applaud goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly’s sharp save at his near post. Larsson should have scored on 37 minutes when through on goal after being set up by a inch perfect pass from the quietly impressive Carrick. The keeper again saved, this time with his legs.
United came out for the second half inspired by Sir Alex’s team talk and took the game to the visitors immediately. United controlled the play and pressed Villa further towards their own penalty box. Ronaldo bore down on goal in the 51st minute only to blaze wide. But with United’s constant pressure and Villa’s tiring back line, more precision on the part of Sir Alex’s men was always likely to make the difference.
Such a moment arrived in the 55th minute when Rooney surrounded by defenders in the Villa penalty area, showed real awareness and vision to find Larsson with a square pass. The Swedish forward struck the ball crisply and beyond the despairing Kiraly as though scripted by Spielberg.
Giggs clipped the bar two minutes later from a free-kick but once ahead, United sat back and invited the Midlands side to attack. This, they did, to the point of earning an equaliser after some slack defending from United in the 73rd minute which left substitute Baros unmarked in the penalty area. He beat Kuszczak comfortably from close range.
Villa’s late rally threatened to spoil United’s afternoon until substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who else, sent a powerful shot towards the visitor’s goal in the first minute of injury time. Kiraly, who had been solid throughout, dived to make a save, only to see the ball squirm under his body into the unguarded net. It was cruel luck for Martin O’Neill’s side but proof that there is plenty of life yet in United’s Scandavian duo with a combined age of 68 years.
TEAM
United: Kuszczak, Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Evra
Ronaldo, Carrick (O’Shea 88), Giggs; Park (Fletcher 69), Rooney, Larsson (Solskjaer 77)
Subs: Van der Sar,Heinze
POST SCRIPT
Sir Alex: “We’ve done that [scored a late winner] many times in the past but that was a near one today. I couldn’t see us winning after their equaliser because they were fighting so hard. We made a host of great chances but when you’re not taking them you never know if you’re going to another one. Some of the football we played was absolutely fantastic and I think we deserved to go through. But you’ve got to feel for Villa because they gave us a real test and worked very hard.”
Martin O’Neill: “He [Kiraly] is obviously distraught as it was a goal he probably should have stopped. Henrik is always capable of doing what he did against us today. I never thought for one minute that Henrik wouldn’t score in any league he played in. It is a great arrangement for Henrik and Manchester United and it suits both parties. Manchester United are going for everything at the moment and this is the stage of the season when you need as many bodies as possible.”
