Manchester United vs Southampton – EFL Cup Final a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 27, 2017
2,073 Views
- Wembley once again proves to be a happy hunting ground for Manchester United as they delivered their second silverware of the season with victory in the EFL Cup Final
- They have now added that to their Community Shield win back in August, while not forgetting they are holders of the F.A. Cup
- It seems as if United are ready to hoover up all the cup silverware before them with 2 out of a possible 4 trophies now in their possession
- But they were certainly made to work for their win yesterday by Southampton and what a different story it could have been
- The game will naturally be defined by the fact Manolo Gabbiadini was denied a hat-trick due to an incorrect offside call early in the game
- Gabbiadini thought he had put Southampton in front only to see the Assistant Referee on the near side raise his flag
- Replays showed that Gabbiadini was in an onside position while Ryan Bertrand was the one who was offside
- A poor call from the Assistant and one that should not be made at this level, a point that Matthew Le Tissier did not hold back from making at half time during Sky Sports coverage
- And Southampton were to have salt rubbed in their wounds when United took the lead just minutes later
- Who else but Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be the man to put Jose Mourinho’s men ahead
- An exquisite freekick on 19 minutes put United in the driving seat and before half time they were in danger of driving into the distance
- Jesse Lingard who seems to have an affinity with Wembley and his well executed effort would leave Fraser Forster flat footed while doubling United’s advantage
- The game was in danger of already being beyond Southampton but their new hero Gabbiadini would have other ideas
- Two goals either side of the restart would turn the game on its head
- Firstly the Italian was on hand to prod home in first half injury time to fully change the complexion of the game
- But his second goal was a thing of beauty, a real instinctive finish was fizzed past David De Gea and it was all square at 2-2
- Southampton were now on the up and if anyone looked like scoring it was to be them
- They came agonisingly close when Oriel Romeu headed against the woodwork as United got themselves out of jail
- But The Saints failed to get that all important third goal and arguably Claude Puel made a mistake in taking off Gabbiadini for Shane Long with the prospect of Extra-Time looming
- Unfortunately for Southampton though that prospect was not to be as once again Ibrahimovic was ready to make the headlines
- Ander Herrera’s inch perfect cross in the 87th minute found the head of the talismanic Swede and he was never going to miss a close range header that was presented to him like that
- And he didn’t
- Heartbreak for Southampton who made this one of the better League Cup Final’s from memory but it was just not to be their day
- Claude Puel will feel rightly aggreived at the offside call, so much so by saying that their should be video technology for calls of this nature
- To be honest this opens up a pandora’s box in my opinion as it’s not something absolute like a goal decision
- Quite simply officials in matches of this nature should not be making such poor judgements
- But at the end of the day they are only human, even so it’s a bitter pill for Southampton to swallow
- For United though it’s another piece of silverware, one that they pushed all the way into winning
- Ibrahimovic was once again worth of every penny but the same cannot be said for Paul Pogba
- If you are paying £89m for someone then these are games that will show his worth
- He didn’t necessarily play bad but did not really take main stage
- That of course was left to Ibrahimovic who was once again the difference in Wembley appearance for United
- That’s 50% of the Cup quadruple won can Jose Mourinho now mastermind the other 50% in May
- If he does he could certainly do with cheering up when he gets the next two trophies
- He looked like he did not want to be there and was also worrying about the fact the traffic out of Wembley is bad at that time of night.
- But on reflection I’m sure he is a lot happier now
- Is this the start of a new era at United, perhaps not this win in isolation
- But the winning mentality in big matches is not going away and that will set them in good stead for the F.A. Cup and Europa League campaigns
- The only thing that could undo them is fixture congestion
- As for Southampton, the target now will be bouncing back from a cruel defeat and trying to finish in the top half of the table
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