Mourinho talks a bit, and says he wasn’t very impressed with the fans (or the players, or himself):
I was expecting a difficult match, I was not expecting to win four or five. 1-0 for me would be always a good result, but 2-0 obviously is better. We are not at Wembley, but the second goal maybe is the important goal. I was a bit disappointed with the first half. Of course they were well organised defensively like I was expecting, and it wasn’t easy for us, but I think we were a bit sloppy, complicated things, taking an extra touch, always delaying the decision, giving them time to regroup. It was not our best first half. The players had to do better, I had to do better, the fans also could do better. The second half we improve just a little bit. Sunday, the players need to do better, I need to do better and the stadium needs to do better too.
And with that, I bid you adieu. Thanks for your eyes and your attention. It’s been totally adequate. Bye!
Jamie Jackson’s match report has landed:
Chris Smalling says some stuff:
I think we all knew at half-time the first-half performance was not good enough. To come away with a 2-0 win after not the best of performances is pretty good. We knew how well they’d set up, but in the end second half we played with more tempo and got what we deserved.
Hull fought hard and admirably, creating a couple of chances and restricting United’s, but 2-0 reflects the match pretty accurately, really.
Final score: Manchester United 2-0 Hull City
The biggest cheer of stoppage time comes when the ball is cleared off the pitch and Mourinho catches it. And his is the last touch of the night, with the whistle coming before the throw-in can be taken.
90+4 mins: And United seem intent on spending every one of them passing the ball around midfield.
90+1 mins: There’ll be about four minutes of stoppage time.
90 mins: The match ends with another potential injury for Hull: Tymon limps off after receiving treatment for a couple of minutes, supported by two physios, and James Weir replaces him.
89 mins: 2-0 was the very least that Mourinho would have considered acceptable from this game. He’ll probably be reasonably content now it has been achieved. It very nearly becomes three, but Martial’s volley is pushed away by Jakupovic.
Updated
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Hull City (Fellaini, 87 mins)
That’s a superb header! Martial does well to keep the ball after he falls on the left touchline, Darmian crosses and Fellaini, at full leap and beyond the far post, heads it back across goal, high and wide of Jakupovic, and in at the far post!
Updated
84 mins: It’s not necessarily a foregone conclusion, though: Snodgrass’s cross is headed away from Clucas by Valencia at full stretch. Then the corner is flicked on at the near post, but doesn’t land at any Tiger feet.
Updated
83 mins: Now Rashford races down the right, but this time his pull-back finds Meyler.
80 mins: There’s a slight air of will-this-do? about all of this. The crowd are largely quiet once again, and United are still attacking, but they aren’t really creating much. Their latest ends when Rashford runs onto the ball near the byline, but his cut-back finds only Jakupovic.
79 mins: United make their final substitution, taking Mata off and bringing Fellaini on.
Updated
75 mins: Robertson gets down the left, feeds the ball inside and after a helpful ricochet it rolls to Maloney, whose first touch is a 25-yarder that rolls wide.
74 mins: Hull make a change, bringing Shaun Maloney on for Diomande.
73 mins: Pogba hits the post! The keeper is totally and emphatically beaten, but the ball curls away from him and into the meat of the post before bouncing clear!
Updated
73 mins: United have another free kick, more dangerous than the last, from which it looks like either Pogba or Mata will shoot.
71 mins: United’s second substitution sees Jesse Lingard replace Mkhitaryan.
70 mins: Which is passes towards Martial, but intercepted and booted upfield.
70 mins: Valencia goes down just outside the penalty area, on the right, after Mason tickles his ankles. Free kick, in a dangerous area.
68 mins: Looks like Mata was offside when Mkhitaryan sent in his header, and thus the goal shouldn’t have stood.
65 mins: Maybe not! Clucas cross to the far post, and Diomandé acrobatically and viciously volleys high at the far post. He was marked by Valencia, who made only the most half-hearted attempt to stop him.
63 mins: Snodgrass’s free kicks are just about Hull’s only source of goalscoring optimism, but his latest gets headed away simply enough.
59 mins: It may well, but Mourinho feels the game needs a touch of Anthony Martial, who comes on in place of Rooney.
@Simon_Burnton I think the game needs a touch of Michael Carrick..
— Leo Arnold (@leoarnold17) January 10, 2017
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Hull City (Mata, 56 mins)
Valencia’s looping cross didn’t look particularly threatening, but Mkhitaryan jumps well, beats Meyler to it and though his header is floating wide, it floats straight to Mata, who taps in from two yards!
Updated
55 mins: Another nearly-chance for United, with Pogba’s shot from just inside the area being blocked by Maguire.
54 mins: Sadly it does. I wouldn’t say the match is sad, it’s just pre-happy.
@Simon_Burnton Seems like you like the word "Sadly". Either that or the state of the match is truly sad. #notwatching #munhul
— Mr Smith (@MrSmith9ja) January 10, 2017
51 mins: Ooooh! Rooney comes ever so close to a 250th United goal! He’s picked out by Pogba’s fabulous pass, runs into space on the right of the penalty area, controls well, and then lashes the ball just wide of the far post.
Updated
50 mins: A nice move from Hull ends with Clucas clipping a cross into an excellent area, perfect for the striker running towards the far post to head in. Sadly, however, the striker is running towards the near post.
46 mins: Chance for United! Pogba plays the ball forward and both Rashford and Mkhitaryan sprint towards it. The Englishman eventually decides to leave it and impede Meyler instead, leaving Mkhitaryan free to burst into the area. Sadly his first touch was so poor the ball went straight to Jakupovic, but the referee, Kevin Friend, would probably have given a free kick if it hadn’t been.
46 mins: Peeeep! Hull get half two under way.
As the players return to the pitch, here’s a United-related newsflash:
There’s surely a goal coming for United here, though Mourinho may well have a plan to expedite it. There’s been way too much random shooting from distance, though, which Hull will be pretty happy with.
“If it was twice as well regarded it would still be a two bob trophy” – nice line.
@Simon_Burnton If it was twice as well regarded it would still be a two bob trophy, and we're only playing Hull. Not exactly glamorous. https://t.co/7lfYXOTgbW
— The View from A1 (@TheViewFromA1) January 10, 2017
Half time: Manchester United 0-0 Hull City
45+5 mins: A match that has so far hovered a little bit above the merely interesting but some way bellow the genuinely thrilling comes to a temporary end.
45+3 mins: Mourinho’s already gone down the tunnel.
Updated
45+2 mins: Meanwhile we’re in stoppage time, and there’ll be at least four minutes of it.
45 mins: A lovely run from Mkhitaryan, who bursts from midfield, flies towards the area and then picks out Rashford, who takes a touch to control the ball, pulls back his left foot, and then brings it down again into the calf of Meyler, who had got between the United man and the ball in the intervening moment.
43 mins: Pogba has another shot from outside the area, and though this one was on target – curling just inside the post, in fact – it was slow enough for Jakupovic to get to.
43 mins: I’m only watching on the telly, but this certainly seems true. A goal might help.
Old Trafford not exactly in full on electric semi final mode. Flat #mufc
— Stuart Mathieson (@StuMathiesonMEN) January 10, 2017
42 mins: Suddenly, down the other end, Snodgrass finds Hernandez, whose optimistic low shot from an angle rolls straight into De Gea’s gloves.
41 mins: Valencia crosses from the right and it looks perfect for Pogba, but at the last second he leans out of the way of the ball, and behind him Herrera is too astonished to do anything.
40 mins: Maguire takes out Mkhitaryan on the left wing (strictly speaking he doesn’t touch him, but the United player could have been getting out of the way rather than diving), and earns the night’s first booking.
Updated
37 mins: Replays suggest that when Diomandé was given offside, he a) wasn’t, and b) the touch was off a United head anyway, so he double wasn’t. So it’s just as well the ball didn’t go in, or we’d all be convulsed with ref-rage.
35 mins: Hull win another free-kick, this time just about close enough to goal for Snodgrass to feel he could bother De Gea. He bothers the wall.
33 mins: Herrera has a go at shooting high from outside the penalty area.
31 mins: The linesman ended the attack with his flag in the air, so the goal may not have stood had there in fact been one.
31 mins: Hull hit the post! It’s another free-kick, deep on the left this time, and it flicks off a head to Diomandé at the far post, who sends it back across goal and, with De Gea beaten, gently against the woodwork.
Updated
29 mins: Now Rashford thumps the ball at goal from 25 yards, but though there’s plenty of power the ball dips just over the bar.
28 mins: A blunderbuss from Pogba, who lashes the ball at goal from 35 yards with such ferocity that although it flew straight above Jakupovic’s head he could only flap it behind.
27 mins: This is absurdly one-sided stuff. Hull have had one foray forward in the last 10 minutes, when they won a free kick deep on the right flank and briefly loaded the penalty area, only for Snodgrass to send the ball straight into touch.
26 mins: Now it’s Valencia’s turn. Another left-wing cross, cleverly headed down by Rooney to Valencia, whose right-foot half-volley flies well high.
23 mins: Another chance for Mkhitaryan, and another miss. A left-wing cross is headed down by Valencia to Mata, who passes inside to Mkhitaryan, who has time to settle himself and pick his spot. The spot is about six yards wide of goal, and 10 yards high.
22 mins: The first corner of the day is won by United. Mkhitaryan takes it short, and after a little ball-pinging Mata’s shot into a thicket of legs hits one of the legs.
20 mins: Hull have now made their substitution, bringing Abel Hernandez on to replace Henriksen.
19 mins: Bad miss for United! A nice move ends with Mata in space in the left of the penalty area, and he cuts inside his man with embarrassing ease before teeing up Mkhitaryan, who slams his shot wide when he should at least have hit the target.
Updated
18 mins: Mata’s cross from deep is headed limply out to the edge of the area to Rooney, who cocks his left foot, pulls the trigger, and mishits completely.
17 mins: “As a United fan and fellow Swede I’d really appreciate any update on Zlatan’s omission,” writes Karl Nygren. Apparently he’s got an illness, which could be almost insignificant or extremely serious, depending.
16 mins: Actually Henriksen’s problem is with his right shoulder. It looks like his evening is over.
14 mins: Henriksen is shoulder-barged by Pogba, goes down, gets straight up, feels a leg and goes down again. The physios are on, and a substitute is already warming up.
13 mins: That’s good, unobtrusive work from Huddlestone, the stand-in centre-back, who stands a good five yards off Rashford, giving him a vague chance of winning a race to any ball played in behind, and then when the ball is played, he duly wins the race and ushers it over the line for a goal kick.
9 mins: Hull have a shot! Maguire takes the ball from Mata’s toes 15 yards inside his own half and heads forwards. And he keeps going, and then he keeps going a bit more, and when he’s just inside the area he shoots low at goal, but it’s not very fast, and goes straight to De Gea.
7 mins: Half-chance for United! Darmian’s the source again, but this time his pull-back is a little soft, Rashford mishits it, it clips a defender’s calf and rolls only just out of Rooney’s reach.
Updated
5 mins: The game has settled down a bit after that really extremely encouraging start. Hull are playing with a surprisingly high defensive line, given that it leaves Marcus Rashford with a lot of space to run into.
2 mins: Save! United snaffle the ball on the half-way line, Darmian gets down the left before pulling back across the edge of the area to Mata, whose first-time shot was headed just inside the near post until Jakupovic got a hand to it.
2 min: No matter what happens in the rest of the game, Hull can look back on the first 90 seconds with pride, having totally bossed them.
1 min: Peeeeeep! Rooney gets his first touch, as United get the game under way.
I never published the teams in standard textual format. So, just in time for kick-off, here they are:
Man Utd: de Gea, Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Darmian, Herrera, Pogba, Mata, Rooney, Mkhitaryan, Rashford. Subs: Martial, Lingard, Carrick, Blind, Romero, Fosu-Mensah, Fellaini.
Hull: Jakupovic, Huddlestone, Maguire, Robertson, Meyler, Mason, Clucas, Tymon, Snodgrass, Henriksen, Diomande. Subs: Hernandez, Maloney, Weir, Marshall, Bowen, Clackstone.
Referee: Kevin Friend.
The players walk out. There is perhaps a little more focus on Rooney than a random statistical coincidence would strictly speaking merit.
Will this man write his name into Manchester United history this evening? “He’s not under any kind of pressure.,” says Mourinho. “He has years of football to beat this record. I think the record is already broken, it’s just a question to know when, which goalkeeper and which opponent.”
And José Mourinho talks to Sky too:
I’m happy with a small step to Wembley. If we win the match, I’m happy. I think it’s very difficult against a Premier League team to have a fat result. I think they will come very well organised, to defend and try something in counter. I don’t think the game will be easy for us. My objective, our objective is to win the match.
I think he’s [Marco Silva] an intelligent guy and a good coach. I think he will come to try to take the tie open to the second leg. Obviously he will try to compact the team, to defend, and for sure it’s always the same everywhere, 99% of the time, the previous manager is not guilty of the bad results, but when the new manager comes there is normally an impact. They will have this extra motivation. So I’m waiting for a difficult match really.
Marco Silva talks to Sky
[I’ve had] Two more training sessions. It’s very busy, all the things very quickly. We had a good result on Saturday, it’s important to give the players confidence. We have also big big problems in the team, injuries and all these things. But OK, we’re here to compete and to do our best.
I spoke to José before I came and we talked last Friday also. During 90 minutes we are opponents. We are good friends, but José wants to win and I want to win also, so we’ll see.
Mike Phelan is in the Sky studio. Apparently there’s not much he can say because of ongoing legal issues regarding the termination of his Hull contract. “Coming here, sitting in this chair, is slightly disappointing, but it’s the only way you can get a ticket,” he says. “I thought we could get results. I thought the group was mentally strong enough to take on the challenge of the Premier League.”
There’s no doubting who the bookies think are going to win: Hull are widely available at 20-1 to win tonight, while United are in the region of 1-6.
Jake Livermore, who was considered likely to play as a stand-in centre-half tonight, isn’t playing at all. Apparently he’s poorly.
🔶◾️ | Jake Livermore misses tonight's game through illness #MNUHUL
— Hull City (@HullCity) January 10, 2017
Hull’s team is in! And those late fitness test results in full: Maguire in, Dawson out.
🔶◾️ | Here’s the @HullCity team to face @ManUtd in tonight’s @EFLCup Semi-Final 1st Leg at Old Trafford #MNUHUL pic.twitter.com/2923K1dqfW
— Hull City (@HullCity) January 10, 2017
Updated
Hull haven’t announced their team yet, but United have:
The news you've been waiting for - here's how #MUFC will line up to face Hull in the #EFLCup... pic.twitter.com/DqgJnUJdy5
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 10, 2017
Hello world!
José Mourinho’s pre-match message was quite the tub-thump: “We want to be in the final,” he roared. “So we are going to face this Hull match with everything we have, with all the power we have. We know that it’s two legs but the second leg is away, so if you can do something in the first leg that gives you an advantage, we are going to try and do that.” So United are going big, they’re going hard, and they’re going to put to the back of their minds the fact that their next game is at home to Liverpool on Sunday.
Whether Hull will field all the power they have is open to question, as is whether they have very much power in the first place: Michael Dawson and Harry Maguire face late fitness tests, and Marcos Silva will need his defence to be fully fit and fully focused if they are going to reach the second leg – to be held two weeks on Thursday – with the tie still undecided.
But where there’s life there’s hope. Hull haven’t won at Old Trafford for more than six decades, but that game provides some hope for this one. Handily, I wrote something about it earlier today:
Over the years Manchester United have given Hull City little to celebrate. They have, after all, won 11 of the teams’ past 12 meetings stretching back more than four decades, in which time the only game Hull didn’t lose – a goalless draw in May 2015 – ended with them getting relegated. In all Hull have won only 16% of the teams’ 25 league matches and just once in knockout competition. As they prepare for Tuesday’s first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final, there is very little by way of historical encouragement. What little there is, however, is rather spectacular.
You can read the piece in full here:
Updated
