Right, that’s it from me. Stick around on site for all the reports and reaction. But from me cheerio!
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That was hardly a classic but an important win for Mourinho nevertheless. There remain questions for both sides to answer.
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Peep! PEEP!! PEEEEEEEP!!! It’s all over. José Mourinho can treat himself to something from the mini bar. Pep Guardiola goes a sixth game without a win.
90+2 min: Cabellero gets to a through-ball just ahead of Pogba.
90+1 min: Pogba picks up a booking for flying in on Otamendi. Ibrahimovic joins him for kicking the ball away as Cabellero looks to take the free-kick.
90 min: A minimum of four added minutes to play.
89 min: A dinked ball into the box evades Maffeo, who had tumbled under Shaw’s challenge. While prone on the turf he flicks his head at the ball like a stricken fish to no avail.
87 min: Ibrahimovic robs Kolarov, who compounds his error by fouling the United man.
85 min: Aguero looks stunned as the linesman flags for a foul on Carrick.
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83 min: City enjoy another long spell of possession but can’t create anything. City shot’s on target tonight: zero.
81 min: The hobbling Rashford off, Lingard on.
79 min: … swung in by Herrera and, after an almighty amount of City faffing, cleared away.
78 min: Ibrahimovic releases Rashford down the right. His low cross is cut out by Maffeo with Pogba closing in. Corber to United …
77 min: It’s very flat. City can’t get anything going. United are pipe-and-slippers comfortable.
75 min: Otamendi gets on the end of Valencia’s cross to head clear, with Ibrahimovic loitering with intent just behind.
73 min: Mata off, the lesser-spotted Schneiderlin on.
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72 min: Sterling swings a corner straight into the hands of De Gea.
71 min: The ineffectual Nolito off, Agüero on.
70 min: Kolarov launches the free-kick yards over the bar.
69 min: Sterling wins a dangerous free-kick for City after Herrera sticks out a foot rather unwisely.
68 min: … which is cleared.
67 min: Navas wins a corner from Shaw …
65 min: Fine chance for Ibrahimovic as Rashford does Maffeo on the City right. His low cross bounces under the Swede’s foot. Zlatan is having One Of Those Nights. Though that doesn’t mean he’ll not still ping a 40-yard overhead kick into the top corner at some stage. While pulling a wheelie on a Harley. Dressed as Batman. On fire.
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64 min: Sterling on, Sane off for City.
63 min: Pass, pass, pass from City. Passpasspass. PasspasspasspaCLUMP over the bar from 40 yards by Kolarov.
62 min: City have not been able to muster much of a response to that goal yet. They’re going in circles in midfield.
60 min: Raheem Sterling is about to be sprung from the City bench.
58 min: Shaw takes out Navas as the Spaniard tears past him once more. No free-kick, says Dean, wrongly.
56 min: United have gone up a gear (as they needed to) while Kompany’s half-time departure has thoroughly disrupted City’s back four. Otamendi has another nervous moment as Pogba tumbles on the edge of the box. Mike Dean says no penalty, to the United man’s chagrin.
GOAL! Man Utd 1-0 Man City (Mata 54)
This had been coming since the break. Ibrahimovic holds offf Otamendi in an aerial battle then squares for Mata to sidefoot home from eight yards out.
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53 min: And right on cue, City break down the other end and Iheanacho squares the ball across the six-yard box. No one is there to tap home.
52 min: Mata’s volleyed cross is punched away by Caballero but this is much, much, much better from United.
50 min: Rashford skips past a couple of defenders on the left, then slips the ball to Pogba, who curls an effort from distance narrowly wide.
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49 min: Pogba hits the post! Much better buildup from United sees Ibrahimovic put the Frenchman through on goal. He’s denied by a quite brilliant save from Caballero, who tips the ball on to the upright.
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47 min: United enjoy a long spell of possession without going anywhere much before Mata gives the ball away to Iheanacho again in United’s half. The striker’s pass to Nolito is a poor one. And Nolito is offside anyway. That was a period of play that pretty much sums up the game as a whole.
Peep! Off we go again. City have made a change: Kolarov comes on for Kompany.
An email:
“Perhaps what those other live creamy-flummery based shows need is a bit of steely sporting backbone, while the live sport perhaps need a bit more custard pie-style slapstick,” writes Robin Hazlehurst. “Maybe you should combine the live blogs for GBBO and the Fizzy Cup and call the result ‘It’s A Knockout’ (younger readers ask your (grand)parents).”
During half-time, enjoy some Mike Dean being Mike Dean:
Peep! PEEP!!! All square at half-time. That was error strewn stuff in truth, but entertaining nevertheless. [INSERT YOUR OWN JOKE ABOUT SOMEONE RISING TO THE OCCASION IN THE SECOND HALF].
45 min: A minimum of one minute of added time to be played. Which is not going to be enough time for me to work a way to shoehorn “the game’s scone” into the MBM.
43 min: The impressive Garcia finds Navas out on the right and he zips past Shaw for the umpteenth time. His cross is cleared at the near post.
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41 min: It’s Ibrahimovic’s turn to give the ball away in his own half and he’s lucky Nolito can’t take advantage. “A quaint English tradition, spoilt by new TV money, based around something that’s overcooked and come out flatter than expected …” writes David Flynn. “Is this not the GBBO blog?”
39 min: Blind is sloppier than over-egged cake mixture in playing the ball out of defence. Iheanacho is through on goal but his effort lacks conviction and a sliding defender is able to make the block.
38 min: “I’m sorry,” begins JJ (who I suspect is not sorry), “but all these live competition TV shows that don’t involve a sport all seem as ridiculous as Monty Python’s sketch Novel Writing (Live from Wessex) in which a stadium crowd cheers every word as Thomas Hardy attempts to write The Return of the Native.”
37 min: Valencia nods away as City create space down their right once more. And at the other end City are scrambling to deny Rashford, who is briefly through on goal before delaying his shot.
36 min: The first opening for United. Shaw does brilliantly down the left and pulls the ball back to Ibrahimovic, whose shot is charged down by Otamendi.
34 min: You have the ball. No, you have the ball. No, no, I insist, you have the ball. I couldn’t possibly, you have the ball. Oh, I’ll just smack the thing out of play for a goal kick instead.
32 min: Kompany, not for the first time, clumps a pass out of play for a United throw-in.
31 min: Ibrahimovic neatly swishes past a challenge in midfield but then scruffily gives the ball away with a poorly executed (and conceived) pass.
30 min: Pass, pass, pass from United who have improved a touch over the past 10 minutes or so.
28 min: Navas whips past Shaw again and feeds the ball into Iheanacho. His pass is overcooked and goes through to De Gea.
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26 min: And, for those of you who haven’t disappeared to the GBBO blog, Valencia has just crashed into Fernando and gone into the book.
25 min: “Excellent updates from the Manchester derby John,” writes my colleague Sachin Nakrani, who knows how flattery will get him everywhere. “In case your readers are looking for updates from tonight’s other big contest - Candice and Jane have made a good start in the Great British Bake Off final. Andrew struggling somewhat but still well in the game.”
24 min: … which City clear after some low-level faffing.
23 min: … Ibrahimovic clips it waist-high into the wall. But United have a corner …
22 min: Neat interplay from Pogba and Ibrahimovic and Mata is needlessly chopped down by Otamendi. Free-kick, 30 yards from goal …
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21 min: Otamendi clumps an attempted chip-pass through to De Gea.
20 min: It’s been even so far – too even for Mourinho, given the backup nature of the City XI. Individual errors on the ball have been the problem for the home side so far, though.
18 min: Ibrahimovic holds down the X button for too long and pings a simple pass towards Rashford hopelessly out of play for a goal kick.
17 min: “Right now I’m more intrigued by the advertising hoardings than by the game,” writes Michael Collins. “So far I’ve seen there’s a ‘Santa Run’ planned and that United have an ‘official tractor’. Insert your own Fellaini gag.”
16 min: Ander Herrera botches a simple pass and City break quickly, Mata doing well to slide in and deny Clichy.
14 min: Kompany gets himself into a bit of a tangle as Rashford tries to get away down the left but he does just about enough to snuff out the danger.
12 min: A big collision between a slipping Iheanacho and Daley Blind in midfield. The City player is inexplicably booked by Mike Dean.
10 min: Nice work from Navas on the right again, and Garcia goes down in the United area as he tangles with Carrick. File that one under You’ve Seen Them Given. And I would probably have given it, having seen the replay. Carrick was the wrong side of the youngster and there did seem to be contact (although Garcia was almost certainly looking for it).
9 min: Rojo does well as Nolito looks to barge his way through the centre of the United defence. It has been a scrappy opening really, though. Very even. Little shape to the game as yet.
7 min: Formation-watch: United are in their usual 4-2-3-1, with Pogba in behind Ibrahimovic. City aren’t a million miles away from a 4-4-2 with Sane joining Iheanacho up front.
6 min: Ibrahimovic wins a (very soft) free-kick on halfway under pressure from Kompany.
4 min: Kompany hoiks a cross-field ball in the vague direction of Clichy. United throw-in.
3 min: Pogba does well to keep the ball in play on the City right but there’s a handball as United try to build an attack.
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2 min: Navas has Shaw on toast down the right and fizzes a cross in. Iheanacho gets on the end of it but manages to divert his header yards over the bar. That was a very useful chance and the young striker made a right old mess of it.
1 min: Luke Shaw has to tidy up a through-ball early on and is forced to give City an attacking throw-in on their right. There’s no Dave Challinor or Rory Delap in the side so they work it back to halfway.
Peep! Off we go then. City get us under way.
Celebrity referee Mike Dean leads the teams out.
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Click, clack, click, clack … the players are in the tunnel at (what looks to be a fairly full) Old Trafford.
Emails!
“Do the clubs have to submit a formation with their team sheets?” wonders David Flynn. Nope.
“Its a shame that this evening’s crisis baton displays will be overshadowed by the news that Saint and Greavsie were both (fairly) recently abused by Trump’s ignorance of football,” writes Ian Copestake. “He did get excited though when they mentioned the need for a defensive wall.”
“Is there a case to be made that the players on city’s bench could take on the starting 11 and win pretty handily?” chuckles Joe in Vancouver.
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Here’s Pep explaining his team selection in the tunnel: “It’s the last competition in terms of importance.” Which is fair enough, really.
Those lineups tell you that Mourinho needs a win more than Guardiola this evening. They also give City a pre-prepared wel-we-only-played-the-reserves excuse for defeat. Mourinho and United on the other hand …
Tim Hill is on Pwoper Nawty watch as Chelsea visit West Ham’s London Stadium. You can follow that one over here:
José Mourinho has apologised to United fans in the club programme this evening:
Mourinho's programme apology for the #CFC humbling pic.twitter.com/hUsebatibT
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) October 26, 2016
The teams
Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Rojo, Blind, Shaw; Carrick, Herrera; Mata, Pogba, Rashford; Ibrahimovic. Subs: Romero, Darmian, Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Lingard, Depay, Young.
Manchester City: Caballero; Maffeo, Otamendi, Kompany, Clichy; Aleix Garcia, Fernando, Nolito; Navas, Iheanacho, Sane. Subs: Gunn, Gundogan, Sterling, Aguero, Adarabioyo, Fernandinho, Kolarov.
So a bit of a back-up XI for City but Mourinho names a pretty-much full strength side. No Mkhitaryan, no Martial, no Rooney.
Preamble/Crisis Club Cup Clash Countdown
This is the fifth League Cup meeting between the sides. The previous four were all pretty tasty and there’s every reason to expect a little feistiness this evening. Both managers need a win – Pep Guardiola because he hasn’t had one in his last five games, José Mourinho because, well, everything seems to be going wrong for him at the moment.
The 0-0 draw at Liverpool wasn’t actually a bad result but the 4-0 shellacking against Chelsea certainly was. And Eric Bailly has been ruled out for a couple of months. And the United manager is struggling with living out of a suitcase. The traffic is all one-way and Mourinho needs to arrest this early slide into territory already well trodden by David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
This being the League Cup, much will depend on the type of side each manager opts to put out this evening. Pep Guardiola has said he will rotate his squad but Mourinho, with his side still struggling to gel, may be tempted to pick a close-to-full-strength XI. We will see very shortly.
Kick off: 8pm BST
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