Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The second of our two EFL Cup Semi Final 2nd legs takes place this Evening at The KCom Stadium as Hull play host to Manchester United and they will have to overturn a 2-0 goal deficit if they are to return to Wembley for the first time since last May.
It was back in May 2016 when Steve Bruce led what was then his Hull side to the Premier League thanks to a Play-Off final victory over Sheffield Wednesday. But with the reigns being passed over to Marco Silva via Mike Phelan it is up to the recently installed Portuguese manager to try and book a Wembley return.
Their preparations for this game would not have been helped by the news that Burnley have had a bid accepted for Robert Snodgrass and his time at the KCom could soon becoming to an end. The Lancashire side have seen a £10m bid for the Scottish international accepted and Snodgrass could now be the second midfielder to leave the club in just over a week.
If Snodgrass was to leave then it would be a massive blow to the club, they lacked any real creative spark on Sunday when they traveled to league leaders Chelsea. That was a trip that once again saw Hull come away empty handed while not forgetting the awful injury that Ryan Mason suffered after the clash of heads with Gary Cahill.
With Mason being diagnosed with a fractured skull he will be out for a long period of time and he is another player that Hull can ill afford to miss right now. Not only does it leave Tonight’s task an uphill struggle but also for the rest of the season.
If they are to succeed in their quest for a Wembley return then they are going to have to do what they have largely struggled to do this season and that’s score goals. They have scored only 20 goals this season, a record which is the second joint lowest in the Premier League.
And with their opponents Manchester United already 2-0 up from the first leg then they are very much in the box seat going into this second leg. Their preparations for this game saw them drop two points away at Stoke as they continue to stay 6th in the table.
A game that United should have won when looking at the post match stats but it will be remembered for one thing only and that is the fact that Wayne Rooney finally made history by scoring his 250th goal for the club, a goal which sees him as the outright record goal scorer for Manchester United.
And it was a goal certainly worthy of breaking a record, a sumptous free kick in the last seconds of the game meant that United would not leave the Bet365 Stadium empty handed although Jose Mouriho would have considered it two points dropped as any hopes of launching a title bid evaporate further.
With the league set to elude them they can still aim for cup silverware and they could very well win the first trophy on offer this season. First they have to make sure that they complete the job this evening and then of course win on their own possible return to Wembley.
They were at the national stadium three times within the space of four months thanks to a combination of F.A. Cup and Community Shield fixtures and it seems to be a happy hunting ground with three wins from those three matches.
Two of them were under the auspicies of previous manager Louis Van Gaal while the Community Shield was the first piece of silverware that Jose Mourinho has won since taking charge. That may have opened the account but United fans will be hoping for a lot more going forward
And they can big a step towards more trophies by seeing out the job in hand this Evening, that job being not throwing away their 1st leg advantage and in all fairness I can’t see anything other than United winning tonight and securing another trip to London next month An away win for me.
