FA Cup
AUBAMEYANG’S BRACE FIRES GUNNERS INTO FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City earned a momentous reprieve in one competition last week but in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley with only 90,000 empty seats as judge and jury, they could not escape their sentence.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport might have allowed them back into the Champions League for the next two seasons but Arsenal showed them no mercy here.
Their shock 2-0 victory was a triumph of uncharacteristic resilience in defence, led by a brilliant display from David Luiz, and of clinical finishing from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored goals in each half to dump City out of the competition they won last year by trouncing Watford in the final.
Arsenal will play either Manchester United or Chelsea in the final on August 1.
It was also the most significant victory yet for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who has only been in charge at the Emirates since December but is already effecting improvements in attitude and style. This one was a victory for the apprentice over his old master as Arteta plotted a way past his former boss, Pep Guardiola.
Arsenal are languishing in ninth place in the Premier League but suddenly their season has new life. They beat champions Liverpool on Wednesday and this result stunned English football. City were widely expected to win this match and claim the FA Cup as their consolation prize for losing the Premier League but they spurned chance after chance and never looked at their best.
City will now be able to pour everything into their pursuit of the Champions League but if they show the same vulnerability at the back in the second leg of their second round match against Real Madrid as they did here against Arsenal, the Spanish champions will fancy their chances of overhauling their first leg deficit. Overwhelmed by Liverpool in the league, this defeat was a rude shock for Guardiola and his team.
The empty stadium seemed particularly stark here. FA Cup semi-final day is usually a riot of colour and a feast of fan expectation and nerves. It is a day out as much as a football match, a day to dream of the final and sing about putting the champagne on ice. Not this time. Not now. Here, there were groundsmen forking the pitch and music echoing around an empty Wembley. It is a necessary measure for now but that does not stop it feeling all wrong.
Even with nine substitutes, Arteta could not find any room for either Mesut Ozil or Matteo Guendouzi in his squad. It is starting to feel increasingly likely that neither will be at the club next season, although finding someone to pay Ozil’s wages has always been put forward as the biggest stumbling block to the Germany midfielder moving on.
Arteta stayed true to the same system he had used in Wednesday’s victory over champions Liverpool at the Emirates and lined up with Kieran Tierney on the left side of a back three. It is the system that seems to get the best out of David Luiz – or do most to protect him, depending on your point of view – and after some heart-stopping early exchanges, Arsenal used it well.
Arsenal nearly handed City an early lead in the ninth minute with the kind of comedy defending that has become one of their hallmarks. Luiz played the ball square across his own box to Shkodran Mustafi who tried to step inside Raheem Sterling as Sterling closed him down. It had trouble written all over it.
Sterling dispossessed Mustafi easily six yards out and it appeared Arsenal were about to be severely embarrassed. Sterling tried to play the ball inside to give Gabriel Jesus a tap-in but Mustafi’s blushes were spared when the pass was intercepted and the danger cleared. It felt already as if Arsenal were in for a long evening.
Arteta’s side were starved of possession and defending with a degree of desperation. Kevin de Bruyne floated a ball to the back post, Riyad Mahrez nodded it back across goal and it was hacked clear before City could apply the finishing touch. By then, Kieran Tierney had already had to make a separate last-ditch clearance.
But after quarter of an hour, Arsenal should have taken the lead. Luiz has been roundly criticised since the restart but he received a ringing endorsement from Pep Guardiola last week when the City manager said he laughed when he heard pundits dismissing his talent. On cue, Luiz intercepted a long ball forward, chested it down, and played a slide-rule pass through to Aubameyang. Aubameyang was clean through but he hit his shot straight at Ederson, who saved it easily.
City did not learn from their escape though. A minute later, at the end of an 18-pass move that had started in Arsenal’s area and included ten players, Nicolas Pepe curled a ball across the City box to the back post. Aubameyang drifted away from Kyle Walker and met the ball as it dropped, clipping a right-footed half-volley past Ederson from a difficult angle. The keeper had no chance and the ball went in off the far post.
It was a brilliant finish to a superb move. It is easy to mock Arsenal’s talent for self-destruction but the goal was crafted from the courage to stick to their plan of playing the ball out from the back and beating the City press. Even though they had nearly come unstuck earlier, this time they had the skill and the confidence to work it perfectly.
If Manchester United’s thrilling and surprise FA Cup victory over Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday was manager Erik ten Hag’s final game as their manager, then what a send-off it was.
Teenagers Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo scored to lead United to a 2-1 upset of the holders and Premier League champions as speculation swirled about Ten Hag’s future.
Although the 54-year-old Dutchman told ITV he had no doubt he would be back and has said he has received the backing of the club’s owners all season, he was less confident in his post-game press conference.
“I don’t think about this,” Ten Hag said when asked about his future. “I’m in a project and we are exactly where we want to be. We’re constructing a team. When I took over it was a mess at United, and we are on our way to construct a team for the future.
“The team is developing, the team is winning and the team also plays to an identity. What you need to play is to be available, you need a strong squad in top football, and especially when you play in England, the Premier League is so competitive.”
Garnacho and Mainoo were two of United’s bright sparks in a disappointing season in which they finished a worst-ever eighth in the Premier League era.
The 19-year-olds were in fine form at a sun-drenched Wembley and after the final whistle defender Lisandro Martinez hoisted a grinning Ten Hag into the air to celebrate.
“We are delighted for the manager,” midfielder Scott McTominay said.
UNBEATEN RUN
Ten Hag, who kissed the trophy before lifting it in front of the United fans, became the first manager to beat Pep Guardiola’s City in a major domestic final and ended their 35-game unbeaten run in open play.
“It is a glorious feeling to win the FA Cup final at Wembley,” said United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe.
“Manchester United clearly were not the favourites to win today but they played with total commitment and skill and overcame one of the great teams in football. We are all very proud of the players and the staff who work tirelessly to support them.”
In Ten Hag’s two seasons in charge, United have played in three Wembley finals and lifted two trophies (they won last season’s League Cup). If sacking after such a positive finale seems implausible, however, there is precedent.
Louis Van Gaal was fired two days after United’s 2-1 FA Cup win over Crystal Palace in 2016 after the team finished fifth in the Premier League.
“We have to keep going, and I’m not satisfied with it, we have to do better and if they don’t want me anymore, then I go anywhere else to win trophies, because that is what I did my whole career,” Ten Hag said. “That is what they always tell me.”
Guardiola had kind words for United’s manager.
“(United) have to take a decision. So, I don’t know but of course he’s a lovely person, an extraordinary manager,” Guardiola said.
Ten Hag’s press conference ended abruptly when a reporter pointed out that eighth in the Premier League was not good enough for United.
“Sorry to say this, but you don’t have any knowledge about football, about managing a football team,” Ten Hag said. “When you don’t have the players available, then you can’t perform, so simple as that.
“And if that is the opinion, it is no problem. Then I go anywhere else and I go and keep winning trophies.”
-Reuters
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has issued a defiant response in the wake of reports claiming that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the club hierarchy have already decided to sack him.
According to UK publication, Mirror, Erik ten Hag has warned the Manchester United hierarchy he will ‘go and win trophies somewhere else’ if he isn’t wanted.
The Dutchman’s position is understood to be in major jeopardy after overseeing the club’s worst league campaign in over 30 years, although he did end the season with a flourish by beating Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Reports on Friday, however, suggested that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the club’s top brass have already decided to replace the former Ajax chief – and that even winning the FA Cup would not be enough for Ten Hag to save his job.
But in the aftermath of United’s big win at Wembley, a defiant Ten Hag fired back when he was quizzed over the latest reports relating to his future.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Ten Hag said of rumours the club will sack him: “If they don’t want me any more, I go somewhere else and win trophies, that’s what I’ve done my whole career.”
It’s been outlined this week that the club have been sounding out potential replacements for Ten Hag with other clubs, notably Chelsea, in the market for a new manager this summer.
Sky Sports claimed that former Manchester United coach Kieran McKenna’s representatives have already held talks with the club after the Northern Irishman guided Ipswich Town to successive promotions.
Manchester United have won the FA Cup after a 2-1 win against city rivals, Manchester City.
The two Manchester clubs have reached the final of England’s oldest cup competition again and City were hoping to retain the trophy after winning last year’s final.
Pep Guardiola’s side had won the last three meetings between City and United and the Reds approached the FA Cup final as underdogs again – but the game didn’t go as most predicted.
Against all odds, United claimed a stunning victory against City thanks to first-half goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, which proved enough for the win.
United were outstanding and looked like a different team after a dismal season. Erik ten Hag’s tactics worked perfectly and City only started to threaten late in the second half.
Jeremy Doku provided City with a glimmer of hope in the dying moments of the match by finding the bottom corner, but it wasn’t enough and the Blues slumped to a defeat.
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