full-time: Derby 1-3 Manchester United
United outclassed the Championship side and crowned a good performance with three excellent goals. There were some notable individual performances - from Martial, Rooney, Varela, Borthwick-Jackson and Blind - and the collective worked pretty well, even if the central defence wobbled momentarily towards the end of the first half. All in all, a good result and a good performance make this a good night for Van Gaal.
90 min: There will be at least four more minutes. And remember, it only takes a second to score a goal, as a certain former Derby manager used to say ...
88 min: Christie, still valiant despite the tormenting he’s received at the feet of Martial, skitters down the right and delivers an excellent cross. Blind cuts it out.
86 min: Things to mention: Herrera came on for Mata just after United’s third goal; Martial was offside when he received the ball prior to creating that goal, meaning United have benefitted from two official lapses tonight; Louis Van Gaal won’t be getting sacked tonight.
United clinch victory thanks to another splendid goal! Martial was the creator, who flummoxed Christie on the left - yet again - before cutting to the byline and pulling the ball back for Mata, who cracked a low shot into the net from eight yards!
80 min: Nice curling cross from the right by Christie. Hendrick, unsurprisingly runs in to try to get on the end of it, but Smalling diverts it out for a corner.
78 min: Gah! Martial has been brilliant tonight - all that has been missing at times has been a polished finish. Once he starts producing them regularly, he’ll be a monster.
76 min: A wise move by Paul Clement, two substitutions: Hendrick and Russell on for Thorne and Johnson. Hendrick’s a lovely player, so expect him to make an impact with runs from deep.
74 min: United substitution: Carrick replaces Schneiderlin, who made a solid but very limited contribution in attacking terms.
73 min: More good work by Ince down the right, followed by more good work by Varela, who anticipated the danger and was on hand to head the winger’s cross clear.
71 min: Thorne leads a 3v3 counter-attack. But not for long, as he quickly gives away possession with a desperate pass.
69 min: Corner to Derby. Ince won it and will take it. Martin flicks it on at the near post and mayhem ensues in the United box! But they eventually bundle the ball to safety. Blind celebrates with teammates after putting United back in front.
An excellent goal, and fair reward for United’s steady improvement in the last few minutes. The culmination came when Lingard lashed a low cross towards the edge of the six-yard box and Blind arrived to sidefoot it into the net. A textbook Van Gaal goal.
64 min: As the pressure from United builds, Ince gets back well to help out his defence and prevent Borthwick-Jackson from getting off a cross.
63 min: Excellent interception by Warnock as Lingard tried to tee up Rooney at the edge of the Derby area.
62 min: Blind delivers an outswinging corner. Fellaini stands tall and gets his nut to it. But his header goes straight into Carson’s arms from 10 yards.
61 min: The game is properly sizzling now, hurtling from end to end. Derby have just had to defend frantically to turn away crosses from Varela and Martial before conceding a corner.
59 min: Derby substitution: well, Blackman won’t be playing the Hotshot Hamish role after all, as he’s just been replaced by Abdoul Camara, the sprightly Guinea winger recently signed from Angers.
58 min: Rooney sprays the ball wide to Lingard, who fires a first-time cross into the area. Mata flings himself at it, eight yards out, and sends a glancing header inches wide!
56 min: Martial, again him, creates a chance after dashing down the left and crossing for Rooney, who twists and turns in the box but can’t find the target with his shot, being surrounded by defenders. “Desperate Dan was not much of a footballer, granted, but will a Hot Shot Hamish step up to claim the glory in the second half for Derby?” wonders Simon McMahon. “They have McMutton as their mascot, after all.” I can see Blackman ramming one into the net.
54 min: Warnock, formerly of Liverpool and Leeds, is booked for chopping down a Manchester United player, Varela.
52 min: A wonderful cross from the right by Christie invites a lunge from Ince, who is tantalisingly close to connecting with the ball six yards out! Whatever Van Gaal said at half-time hasn’t worked yet, because United have looked quite rudderless and Derby increasingly confident.
50 min: Smalling clear the first corner. The second leads to a freekick, as Johnson pushed over Blind.
49 min: Lingard - another who has offered little in terms of creativity - gives the ball away near the Derby box, allowing the hsots to launch a counter-attack. Varela does well to prevent Blackman from getting through, at the expense of a corner
47 min: United know who their dangerman is: they work the ball quickly to Martial, who simply ghosts past Christie and into the box. He flashes the ball across the face of goal but Rooney had not quite arrived in support, not being as fast as the Frenchman.
Things were looking good for United and Van Gaal until a sudden burst from Derby towards the end of that half. United had been in charge and fully deserved the lead given to them by Rooney’s excellent goal, but their failure to create and take more chances was punished when Thorne popped up to snatch a fine goal of his own. Martial and Rooney have sparkled, but Mata and Schneiderlin could have done much more to give the visitors more of a cutting edge. Once Derby found themselves back in the game, new belief surged through the home side and they made the United defence look dodgy. A big second half looms. “I know it’s only Man Utd, but ... THORNE IS BACK!” booms John Willough.
45 min: Corner to United after more good work down the left by Martial. But the corner comes to nothing as Fellaini is punished for a foul.
44 min: Blackman collects the ball on the right, runs away from Martial and then unleashes a cracking low effort that bobbles inches wide from 20 yards!
43 min: How this game has changed! Derby pester United into losing possession outside their own box and then slip the ball through to Martin, who lines up a shot from 10 yards .... but Smalling makes an outstanding tackle to tip the ball off the striker’s foot and out for a corner!
41 min: Excitement among Derby fans as their team skitters forward in rather harum-scarum fashion, but that’s enough to alarm a United defence that is suddenly less sure of itself. But after several rash attempts, United do eventually manage to clear the danger.
39 min: Martial skedaddles down the left again, gets to the byline and enters in the box. He bangs a low ball across the face of goal, and Warnock does superbly to slide in and divert it out for a corner.
Well that came from nowhere! But what a lovely finish! The chance came from a hoof from the back, which was not defended especially well, Smalling’s header only nodding the ball down to Martin. The forward chipped a nice pass through to Thorne, who had surged forward from deep undetected by any United player. As De Gea rushed out, Throne took one deft touch before flipping the ball past the keeper and into the net!
35 min: Varela lofts in a cross from the right. Martial has time to wait for it to come down. He winds up a Zidane-style volley ... but produces a Desperate Dan-style finish, making an absolute cowpie of it.
33 min: Rooney’s goal came after he cut in from the left, but that has been Martial’s move for most of the match and nearly every time he has wrought havoc. Christie can’t contain him all by himself. The Frenchman reinforces the point by collecting the ball on the left, jinking and dashing his way infield, exchanging passes with Rooney ... and firing off a slightly weak shot. Carson saves.
31 min: Varela provides an overlap for Mata, who duly delivers. But the young fullback lets the ball run over the byline before crossing. That may work for Raheem Sterling, but Varela isn’t allowed to get away with it.
29 min: A rare loose pass from United is intercepted by Ince, who fails in his attempt to release Martin, as Smalling read his intention. United resume their probing, which must be exasperating for the outclassed hosts.
26 min: United are doing a proper job on Derby here. The hosts are barely getting a touch. And now all the noise is coming from the away fans. Friday night football, there’s a lot to be said for it, and all at Motorhead-approved volume.
23 min: United tear forward at speed - yes, it’s true! - and Martial runs and feints his into the box, looking for an opening through which to open fire. But Keogh is not duped by the Frenchman’s moves and blocks the shot.
22 min: Signs of life from Derby! A dangerous cross into the box from the right is met by Blackman, who outjumps Varela at the back post and nods the ball goalward. Saved by De Gea.
20 min: Absolutely no sign so far of Derby turning things around here. United are cruising. But there is, of course, still a long way to go and Derby have a lot of quality on the bench. “I know it’s just Derby, but WAYNE ROONEY IS BACK” exclaims Richard Northrop.
Point of order: replays suggest that Rooney was fractionally offside before receiving the pass from Martial before running with the ball into the box and scoring. So maybe Lady Luck, at least, has decided to go easy Van Gaal for a bit.
What a beautiful goal! United moved steadily forward and then finished with a bang, Rooney swapping passes with Martial before curling a sumptuous shot into the top corner from 18 yards!
13 min: There was a suggestion beforehand that United’s two inexperienced full-backs could be got at: but so far Borthwick-Jackson and Varela have been impressively sound and, indeed, looked vibrant going forward.
11 min: Ince tries his luck from 25 yards. It’s a powerful drive but De Gea catches it without fuss.
10 min: A scare in the United defence! Smalling trod on the ball under pressure and then tried a rather panicky clearance that put Varela in trouble. Johnson gathered the ball and sent in a dangerous cross, but United scrambled it away.
7 min: If Derby had any ambitions of forcing United on to the back foot from the start, they’ve quickly abandoned them and switched to deep defence. United are dominating possession. But can they find the creativity to infiltrate the massed defence in front of them?
5 min: United remain the better side in what has been a gripping, high-tempo start. Nothing boring about this so far even if there has been just the one scoring chance.
Louis van Gaal takes more notes as assistant coaches Albert Stuivenberg and Ryan Giggs watch the proceedings.
3 min: A lovely flowing move by United should have yielded the opening goal! Martial started it by cutting in from the left and feeding Fellaini in the box. The Belgian passed to Rooney, who rolled the ball back into the path of Martial, who tried to curl it into the top corer from 12 yards .... but it was a wild effort and missed the target by a long way!
2 min: United have made a bright start. They won the ball off the hosts very quickly and pinged it about quite nicely, with Borthwick-Jackson and Martial showing encouraging flourishes down the left as they combined. But Christie did well to stop them from making any serious incursion.
1 min: Derby get the game underway amid a wonderful din!
Out march the teams, to a superb reception from 33,000 giddy revellers at Pride Park! United have been pretty good at silencing crowds of late, but they’ll have to be extremely boring to quieten this lot down...
Van Gaal to the BBC right now, in response to a question as to whether this is the most difficult period he has endured as a manager: “No, I always had periods in every club so this is not new. What’s new is that stories are made up by the media and you can write everything without taking responsibility for what you are writing.”And on what he is hoping for tonight: “I hope that they shall perform as we have trained ... I want to see the confience of training sessions because then we can win the game.”
And here, purely for information purposes, is a reminder of a previous difficult period endured by Van Gaal.
“Sobering stats on the Rams’ last FA Cup victory against Man Utd,” groans LeRosbif on twitter. “How about showing Paulo Wanchope’s ‘97 goal against Schmeichel?!” Sure thing, and how about doing so with Radio Derby commentary: enjoy!
Peter Schmeichel, a pundit on BBC, has been describing just how hairy things could get for Louis Van Gaal if his team do not perform tonight: “If Man United don’t win, I cannot imagine what the newspapers will look like tomorrow and also what the pressure from the guys that run the club and the players will be like.”
Here, enjoy some Louis Van Gaal in happier times. And to think, some folks say he only ever sits in the dugout taking notes...
Bearing in mind United’s trouble at scoring in the first half, let’s recall that a boring start doesn’t preclude a grande finale. Why, for evidence of that we need look no further than the greatest day in Derby’s FA Cup history: the 1946 final. 0-0 after 84 minutes, that clash ended with a thumping 4-1 victory for the Rams over Charlton. Here, enjoy motion picture evidence. Hats please, gentlemen! So, what to make of those lineups? Clement suggested a couple of days ago that the key to finding consistent results for Derby would be to field consistent lineups so it is no surprise that he starts with the same side that began against Burnley on Monday. Clement hailed the first half of that game as the best by his team this season. The second half was significantly worse, mind, which is why they ended up as 4-1 losers. United, meanwhile, make two chances to the lineup that started lsat Saturday’s defeat to Southampton, with Mata and Varela coming in, the latter making only his second start of the season - the first coincided with United being knocked out of the Champions League.
Derby: Carson; Christie, Keogh, Shackell, Warnock; Thorne, Ince, Butterfield, Johnson; Blackman, Martin
Subs: Olsson, Grant, Bryson, Hendrick, Russell, Baird, Camara
United: De Gea; Varela, Smalling, Blind, Borthwick-Jackson; Schneiderlin, Fellaini; Lingard, Mata, Martial; Rooney
Subs: Depay, Januzaj, Carrick, Romero, Herrera, McNair, Pereira
Hello and welcome to fair and upstanding coverage of this fascinating FA Cup fourth round tie. The last time Derby County knocked Manchester United out of this tournament was in 1896 when, in point of fact, Manchester United were still known as Newton Heath, Hugh McQueen and the great Steve Bloomer scored for Derby and Paul Scholes was telling anyone who would cross his plam with silver that things were much better in his day. Plenty of people think that Derby could relieve that glory tonight by beating the latest representatives of United. That would be a fine way for Paul Clement’s team to re-assert their quality after recent stutters in the league – a winless streak of five matches has seen them drop from the top to fifth place in the Championship - but what would a Derby win, or even a draw, mean for United and Louis Van Gaal, apart from another tense press conference?
If you are tuning into this, it is possibly because you do not believe all those nasty things that journalists - and booing United fans, and former United players - have been saying about United being agonisingly boring to follow under Van Gaal. But if you remain a loyal soldier in “Louis Van Gaal’s Army”, then you need to shout louder because your voice is not being heard above the angry mob at the moment. Perhaps this match will give you an opportunity to show your support, and even claim a smidgin of vindication. Or maybe you have deserted Van Gaal’s army and are following this match in the hope that United will lose and Van Gaal will be put out of the club’s misery. Or maybe you’re a Derby County supporter and do not give a single hoot about United’ woes and just want joy for your team Or maybe you’re a neutral who just likes drama. Or maybe you came here by accident, in which case, please click a few ads before you go, if you wouldn’t mind. Actually, you might fancy sticking around because this is a match in which the public really can’t lose: if it’s a thriller, you’ll be thrilled; if it’s boring, then, um, that could be even more interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment