Manchester United suffered their first defeat in almost three months as they were beaten by Hull City 2-1 in the EFL Cup semi-final. But the scoreline did not affect the outcome of the tie as United progressed to the finals with an aggregate goal difference of 4-3.
Man Utd travelled to Hull City with a 2 goal advantage from the first leg. And everyone expected this match to be a formality. But it was anything but a formality. An injury-hit Hull side put in a wonderful shift. And defeated a lacklustre United side 2-1. Hull City manager Marco Silva will be very proud of his boys as they put in a wonderful shift.
United looks out of sorts from the onset and their midfield was completely non-existent. Hull had a much more impactful midfield for most of the match but the game desperately needed a goal. Silva’s men were the first to make the breakthrough as they scored the first goal from the penalty spot in the 36th minute. But the penalty was itself a debatable one as it could have gone either way but Huddlestone converted from the penalty spot to make add some life into the match.
Picture by dom fellowes
In the second half, United knew a slender one goal advantage could not be dwelled upon. So they shifted gears and when for that second goal cushion. Their attack finally paid in the 67th minute. A weak clearance from Huddlestone fell to the feet of Pogba and he toe-poked it into the net. Thus restoring their 2 goal advance. Hull City scored their second goal of the match in the 86th minute thanks to Niasse. But it was a bit too late for Hull City to build any sort of pressure on United.
The performance from United was a very average one and Mourinho will definitely try and look into this matter. The lack of creativity was very much evident. And the midfield did not do enough to control the match. Micheal Carrick had one of those rare bad games and Pogba wasn’t too impactful. United’s defence let in 2 goals and Phil Jones particularly had a bad day at the office.
United move to the finals where they will face Southampton n the 26th of February. This means the Manchester Derby will have to be moved to a later date to accommodate this fixture.
Note: The images used in this article is taken from the Wikipedia Commons Library which is licensed under Creative Commons. The author of the pictures have been duly credited in the captions and the author of the featured image is Ardfern.
