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Brighton have won 2-1 at Newcastle. That’s fantastic work from Fabian Hurzeler’s boys.
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!
Email! “It’s written in the stars that Fulham will win,” reckons Richard Hirst. “This unusual optimism is not just because it is my birthday but because Preston are still in the Cup, Fulham having lost 16-15 on penalties to Preston in the Carabao, and what could be more Fulhamish than to beat Man Utd then lose again to Preston.”
Hilariously, United have beaten Fulham twice this season. But I’d expect them to set about this with far greater aggression than in either league match.
Wayne Rooney, sacked from Plymouth when they were bottom of the Championship, thinks United have been hard to watch under Amorim. I know!
Public service announcement: the greatest and soundest band of the last 40 years are back! And how we need them!
We’re now watching an interview with Harrance Maguire; I hope you didn’t miss his ear-cup into knee-slide after scoring against Ipswich. Expect to see him piercing his ears and sporting a sleeve next.
On BBC they’ve been extolling Sander Berge, who’s turning out to be an excellent signing. He’s got great physicality, in the tackle but more than that on the ball, and is a clever, economical passer. Operating in the space United need to attack from, he’ll be a key figure today however the game shakes out.
Oh man, how United could use Daniel Welbeck, probably the player whose career suffered most for Alex Ferguson’s retirement. He’s just scored a jazzer to give Brighton the lead at Newcastle with six minutes of extra time remaining; that’s two more goals since Tuesday than Hojlund has since mid-December.
Andreas Pereira, the pre-season Messi, will be buzzing for this one. He got chances at United and wasn’t quite good enough to take them, but has come on a lot since then, a proven and established Premier League player. I mentioned earlier that United lack physicality at wing-back, which they do, and they also lack pace in the centre of defence – of the three men stationed there, only Leny Yoro can run. As such, I’d expect him to try and put his front men in races with them whenever possible.
I very much enjoyed this.
Something to look out for: United won in the last round with a set-piece and scored from three in midweek. It’s clear that they’ve been working on them in training, in Mathijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire have two men who go forward for them looking to score, and Bruno’s delivery, iffy at best for almost all of his five years at Old Trafford, has been sensational.
Marco Silva says the Cup is very important for Fulham. From the start he’s taken every opponent seriously and wants to win and reach the last eight.
Amorim tells BBC that Garnacho “had an issue last game”, so they’ve decided to use Eriksen with him left on the bench. He was happy with 20 minutes against Everton and says his team played well against Ipswich with 11 then suffered together with 10. All in all, he thinks United are improving.
So where is the game? United will look to play into their two 10s – they’ve little threat out wide – with Fernandes also there to join in. No doubt they’ll want Hojlund to dart in behind, down the sides of the centre-backs, but whether or not he does, he can can say?
As for Fulham, they may have changed formation for other reasons, but they’re now much better-equipped to exploit the space behind the wing-backs. In particular, Traore has legsand power on Dalot, while Lukic and Bergew will fancy themselves too physical for Eriksen and Zirkzee.
Fulham, meanwhile, will have restored players who were rested for this match. With their Premier League status secure, they’ve no reason not to go all-out for the Cup, and given the teams left, they’ve a decent chance of making something happen. Bassey is exactly the kind of centre-back Hojlund can spend an entire match fruitless fighting; Robinson is a one-man left-flank; and Iwobi has excellent ball-carrying capabilities.
Amorim has little in the way of options. He’ll be devo’d about Dorgu, banned for the first of three games – already, his new signing had made a difference, giving United width, balance and physicality, doing the right things and building a promising partnership with Bruno Fernandes. Mazraoui, though a lovely footballer, offers little attacking threat from wing-back, likewise Diogo Dalot on the other side, while there could scarcely be less pace behind the nominal centre-forward, Rasmus Hojlund, both Eriksen and Joshua Zirzkee looking like they run in a wind-tunnel.
But before that, though, we’re into extra time at SJP.
Imma write these down, then we’l wonder what they might mean in a little more detail.
Marco Silva, meanwhile, leaves out Jorge Cuenca, Issa Diop and Ryan Sessengon – who scored in the midweek win at Wolves – with Calvin Bassey, Antonee Robinson and Alex Iwobi coming in. That means a change of shape from 3-4-2-1 to 4-2-3-1.
Ruben Amorim makes two changes to the side that sneaked by Ipswich in midweek: Alejandro Garnacho, who stomped down the tunnel after being sacrificed following Patrick Dorgu’s red card, is on the bench having bought the squad tea by way of apology; the two are replaced by Noussair Mazraoui and Christian Eriksen.
Teams!
Manchester United (3-4-3): Onana; De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro; Dalot Fernandes, Ugarte, Mazraoui; Eriksen, Zirkzee; Hojlund. Subs: Graczyk, Murdock, Heaven, Lindelof, Casemiro, Garnacho, Obi.
Fulham (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Robinson; Berge, Lukic; Traore, Pereira, Iwobi; Muniz. Subs: Benda, Cuenca, Diop, Sessegnon, Reed, Cairney, Smith Rowe, Willian, Jimenez.
Referee: Stuart Atwell (Nuneaton)
Also going on…
Before we get going with our game, it’s 10 v 10 at St James’, it’s 1-1 with four minutes injury-time to play … and there’s been a development!
Preamble
We live in age of extremes, and even as the world order is bulldozed by artless dunces, there remains little as extreme than football. Dealing almost uniquely in polarised emotions – love and hate, buzzing and gutted, furious and sanguine – never has it reflected our world more.
As such, it is unsurprising that, as we ponder a fascinating cup-tie, all the fuss is about the rich folk noisily failing, imposing unwarranted suffering on all connected to it bar those whose fault it is . Handed a new contract to a failing manager? Fire some workers. Bussed a dizzying sum of money buying him yet more substandard players? Increase ticket prices. Spend over £20m firing him a few months later, as everyone else knew you would? Serve staff gruel for dinner.
Really, though, we should be talking about Fulham. After returning to the Premier League in 2022, they finished 10th then 13th and now, with 10 games left in their third season back, they sit comfortably in ninth. The work of Marco Silva and his players – set against the backdrop of an expensively extended ground – may be understated, but it is not less brilliant for that.
Of course, our world being our world and our football being our football, not everything is ideal – Fulham tickets are as disgracefully priced as anyone’s – but they remain an example of a rare and underrated skill: competence. A level that, should their players hit it today, would give them an excellent chance of progressing to the last eight of a competition they’ve never won. This is going to be good.
Kick-off: 4.30pm GMT
