Millwall and Lincoln are in the mood for further upsets, José Mourinho has a tactical teaser at Chelsea and Rangers at risk of Old Firm derby embarrassmentThe FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is a fitting way for Neil Harris to celebrate two years in charge of the club he loves. Regardless of the result, the club have been upwardly mobile under Harris, the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Harris initially took caretaker charge on 10 March 2015 before assuming the full-time position a month later. Their start to this season was tricky – at the end of September they had 12 points from 10 games – but now Harris’s side are only six points off the automatic promotion...
The manager known for his ruthlessness and finishing first is too reliant on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the result is a regular failure to beat supposedly inferior teamsJosé Mourinho used to be defined by an extraordinary home record. In one respect, he still is. The difference is that it is now a subject of regret and recrimination. Related: Manchester United’s top-four push stalls in chaotic draw with Bournemouth Continue reading...
The volatile Brazilian endured a turbulent career but produced a moment of genius to round off United’s ill-fated trip to the Club World ChampionshipFor 43 minutes, Manchester United had toiled in the sweltering heat of the Maracanã, producing one of the worst performances of the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Gary Neville had been especially calamitous, furiously sweeping at the sweat-sodden curtains on his forehead having teed up one of Brazil’s greatest goalscorers, Romario, twice.Vasco da Gama were cruising to half-time when they delivered the goal that encapsulated the European champions’ humiliating jaunt to Brazil. By the time Edmundo’s brilliant spin and finish was done, three United players lay beaten on the floor as Vasco’s showman peeled away celebrating with his...
Ibrahimovic won the EFL Cup for Manchester United at Wembley yet unlike Eric Cantona 25 years ago is not the final piece in the jigsaw of an emerging sideWatching Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s fine, bloody-minded match-winning turn for Manchester United in the EFL Cup final it was hard not to reach back in time for comparisons. Rewind to the early 1990s and English football’s restless north-western superpower needed fresh blood, a point of attacking inspiration to energise an emerging team. A new striker was signed to add stardust up front. History shows it worked, too. Dean Saunders scored 23 goals as Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1992.Saunders left after one season – as Ibrahimovic still might – and went to Aston...
The Swedish striker spares the blushes of José Mourinho’s side while Paul Pogba is clangingly inept during their 3-2 EFL Cup final victory at WembleyIt is tempting to say Zlatan Ibrahimovic stole this EFL Cup final from Southampton but only if having the craft, skill and bloody-mindedness to drag Manchester United’s misfiring collection of high spec parts across the line really counts as anything other than an act of champion will.What is certain is that United won the first honour of the José Mourinho reboot in the most uneven way, producing a performance at Wembley that clanked and juddered and tripped over its own feet but was still enough to overcome a more fluent Southampton team by virtue of the...