Manchester United win the EFL Cup

Manchester United leave it late to win the 2016/2017 EFL Cup

“Glory, Glory Man United” screamed the victorious fans from the bar I regularly attend for these kinds of matches. Manchester United, now crowned the EFL 2016/2017 Champions, formally known as the Capital One Cup, was a strong match played between Manchester United (3-2) and Southampton.

These two teams squared off as Southampton, who edged out Liverpool 2-0 in the semi-finals and United who defeated Hull on their road to Wembley Stadium. The starting lineups caused some controversy with club captain Wayne Rooney being confined to the bench after Jose Mourinho claimed he would be in action. Anthony Martial, who received the nod to start, needed to have a phenomenal match after not impressing Mourinho this season and after the first half failed to impress. His touches were lackluster, predictable and his creativity off the ball failed as a player of that caliber.

On Southampton’s side of the pitch, leaving Shane Long off the team sheet was a big mistake, in my opinion. Long is the kind of player who will give 110% of his energy on the pitch and always seems to have a smile on his face when he plays. Long will dig for his goals, which Southampton desperately needed as they found themselves down 2-1 at the break. Bringing him on late in the game was a big mistake as he wasn’t offered enough time to find his rhythm and give the touches needed in order to find the back of the net.

Analysis from play

This match looked quite balanced in the earlier stages of the game, with each team taking their runs at each other. Southampton perhaps had the biggest slight against them early on as they had a goal, unruly called offside 11′ minutes in. Gabbiadini was the lone striker in on net with Ryan Bertrand meters behind him in the offside position.

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By the rules of the game, if you are interfering with play, it should be ruled offside and in this instance, the linesman and official got the decision wrong. Minutes later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic connected a beautiful free kick to the back of the net, with Fraser Foster inches away from having his glove on the end of it. United carried that momentum with Jesse Lingard having the correct touch on a final ball that saw him direct the ball into the far corner, to put United 2-0 up.

As the tale of two halves usually goes, Manolo Gabbiadini connected right before the stroke of half-time to make it 2-1 going into the break. After having the opening goal incorrectly ruled offside, he showed persistence throughout the game and was rewarded late for his efforts in the dying moments of the first half. Gabbiadini, who joined the Southampton squad late in the January market from Napoli, has been a great talent—netting his fifth goal in three games as he tied the score at 2-2.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who narrowly missed out on my Premier League Team of the Season, impressed yet again netting his second goal of the game late on. Southampton, who should have known better after their 2-1 defeat to United earlier in the season—where Ibrahimovic again scored a late header, left the big man wide open in the box to convert the game-winning goal.

The EFL Cup, makes this Mourinho’s second trophy for the Red Devils, since taking charge and winning the Community Shield against Leicester City in August.

Man of the Match

Biggest misses in the match were Paul Pogba, who failed to impress in the first half and didn’t deliver in the second portion of the game either- despite having drawn a couple major fouls and Herrera, who appears to only be good for a flop here and there.

Despite United’s misfiring players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues his winning ways for the Red Devils. His most recent claim: “I came to Man Utd to conquer and I’m conquering“, is not incorrect after netting over 24 goals for United all season long.