Full time: Manchester United 4-0 Reading
Peep peep! A straightforward win for Manchester United, though it was not a routine day for Wayne Rooney: his early strike took him to 249 goals for United, equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s club record. A largely second-string United side played some blistering football against an admittedly compliant Reading. The good times aren’t quite back at Old Trafford, but they’re in the post. Thanks for your company, bye.
PS John Ashdown will be dispensing romance and shocks with his FA Cup clockwatch. Join him here.
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89 min Blind is lucky not to be booked for a cynical foul on Gunter, who had skipped past him on the right wing.
86 min So, Manchester United are still just about on course for the Alternative Quadruple. This is their eighth win in a row; the last time they did that was in the 2008-09 season, when they were two games and a penalty shoot-out away from the Actual Quadruple.
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84 min In fact it was Al-Habsi who saved Fellaini’s follow-up. He has made at least four or five excellent saves today, yet all anyone will remember him was his mistake. Poor bugger.
83 min The United fans launch into “Yip Jaap Stam”, which might necessitate another apology from the commentator in a minute. Meanwhile, Rooney draws a fine save from Al Habsi with a curler from a tight angle, and Fellaini’s follow-up is blocked on the line.
80 min The BT commentator Ian Darke apologises for the offensive language in a chant at Old Trafford. That’s the first time I’ve heard that. “What the fucking hell was that?” was the chant, in response to Al-Habsi’s unwitting assist.
GOAL! Manchester United 4-0 Reading (Rashford 79)
Oh dear. Al-Habsi, side on to goal, shapes to kick a backpass from Moore but inadvertently touches it with his standing foot and almost falls over. That allows Rashford to run past him and exaggeratedly hoof it into the net from a yard.
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77 min A couple of Manchester United substitutes: Bastian Schweinsteiger and Timothy Fosu-Mensah replace Juan Mata and the superb Michael Carrick. Reading almost make a change, with Dominic Samuel replacing Kermorgant.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-0 Reading (Rashford 75)
Marcus Rashford gets his first goal since September, a deserved reward for an effervescent and classy performance. Carrick swept a wonderful 30-yard disguised pass to put Rashford through on goal, and he opened his body to sidefoot it calmly past Al-Habsi.
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76 min “Rob, one of the reasons they were less gung ho because no two midfielders were as good,” says Jack Walsh.
No I’m afraid that’s not right. They were less gung-ho even with Keane and Scholes in the team in the early 2000s.
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74 min A couple of corners for United come to nothing. The edge has gone from this match, and it’s essentially a training session for both teams now.
71 min “Re: Rooney’s “disastrous 2010” - was this the same year he won the PFA and FWA player of the year awards and was so pivotal to United we played him on crutches against Bayern?” says Des Carney. “You’re having a mare here Rob.”
No, Des, you are. In most cultures calendar years end in December, not April. The Bayern injury – when he was in the form of his life, and had scored 18 goals in 13 games – was the start of a career-changing nine months in which he alienated England fans, Manchester United fans and Sir Alex Ferguson, all a frustrated reaction to being unable to recapture the astonishing form he was in before the injury, when it looked like he was capable of leading Manchester United to a record fourth title in a row, not to mention another European Cup, and England to the World Cup. That Bayern injury was the most significant turning point of his career.
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67 min McCleary, who has had a fine match, goes on a penetrative slalom before finding Kermorgant, whose 20-yard shot is blocked by Smalling.
63 min McCleary plays a lovely one-two with Swift, and Romero charges from his line before going feet first to win a 50/50 ball. McCleary was hurt in the collision but should be fine.
60 min Van Den Berg saves a goal with a brilliant interception. He stretched to get the merest touch on Rooney’s low cross/pass, without which Rashford would have had a tap-in from 10 yards.
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59 min “That video of Stam getting stitched up is something else,” says Rhys Fraser. “The Stam-Koller bald doppelganger collision (or Kollision?), overseen by the greatest ref, bald or otherwise, in Collina, making a beautiful bald triumvirate and then Stam just sitting there with his lucid man-mountain terminator visage. Top viewing on an otherwise dreary Saturday at work.”
Yes, in the bald community we regard that as one of the universe’s finest moments.
58 min Mata misses a sitter, though turns out he was offside. United have played some extremely slick and - even more strikingly after the last few years - quick football today.
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57 min A Reading substitution: the excellent John Swift, who is on his way back from injury, replaces Evans.
55 min Rooney misses from four yards. Rashford, who seems to have got quicker today, played a high-class reverse pass to Fellaini, whose cross-shot wasn’t held by Al-Habsi. Rooney anticipated the rebound like Gerd Muller but then hit it straight at Al-Habsi’s legs. He should have scored.
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54 min Ashley Young is booked for a late tackle on Obita. Some referees would have sent him off for that, such was the dramatic and painful nature of the collision, though the fact he didn’t go over the ball probably saved him.
53 min Martial plays the ball infield to Carrick, who cracks a fine curling shot from 25 yards that is superbly saved on the half-volley by the sprawling Al-Habsi.
51 min The speed of United’s counter-attacking is such that you’d expect them to get plenty more chances in the second half. Rashford has been electric, if occasionally wasteful. All things being equal he will become a wonderful centre-forward.
49 min “I’m sorry but you’ve started something interesting now and I have to bite,” says Michael Simpson. “Gung-ho though we were in 1999, that stable, post-Queiroz Champions League focused football was entirely dependent on players like Ferdinand being able to defend, intercept and play out the ball. I stand by my better player point.”
So you are saying they were better footballers? Or better defenders? I don’t really know, I was mesmerised in your italics. I do know I’d take Jaap Stam over John Stones though.
Anyway, who cares, it’s just an opinion. I think Stam was a better defender, and a better centre-half overall, than Ferdinand and Vidic. You don’t. What are we going to do, strip to the waist and get medieval?
47 min Another half-chance for United. Rooney, on the stretch beyond the far post, can’t quite get around Rashford’s excellent right-wing cross and slices it into the crowd.
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46 min Peep peep! Reading have made a half-time substitution, with Jordan Obita replacing United alumnus Tyler Blackett at left-back.
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Yet more half-time entertainment
“My favourite memory of Jaap Stam,” says Gary Naylor.
More half-time entertainment
Half-time entertainment
More half-time chit-chat
“Rooney’s records are incredibly impressive, a testament to a superb career, though I’m sure the United goal scoring record will be beaten in our lives as its comparatively low compared to other big clubs,” says Mike Gibbons. “It says something about this serfdom to statistics though that, although they scored less and picked up fewer gongs, Law, Charlton, Ronaldo, Hughes and other goalscorers will always be regarded more highly at United.”
Indeed. To borrow a United-related phase, it’s a strange kind of glory. His United career never truly recovered from that disastrous 2010.
Half-time chit-chat
“‘Stam played with far less midfield protection’????” sniffs Jack Walsh. “Roy Keane at his best, not to mind Paul Scholes, not good enough?”
Tactics, my dear boy. United were much more gung-ho in Stam’s day. One of the main reasons they bought him is because he was so good one v one.
Half time: Manchester United 2-0 Reading
A lovely training session for Manchester United, in which Wayne Rooney equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record. See you in 10 minutes for more of the same.
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44 min Martial misses a good chance from Rashford’s cross. United could have scored six or seven already.
43 min Martial goes another twinkle-toed meander before inviting Mata to shoot first time from inside the D. He curls it over the bar.
43 min “Unfortunately,” says Kevin Wilson, “to most people Stam is probably remembered for that penalty - it’s still in orbit.”
42 min Mata takes Young’s crisp cut-back in his stride before lashing a shot that is crucially blocked by Evans.
38 min The bushy-haired pair of Fellaini and Williams go head-to-head, or ‘fro-to-fro, after a challenge from Fellaini. The referee decides not to book either of them, and quite right too.
37 min This has the breezy feel of a pre-season friendly, or maybe a post-season friendly: you attack, we attack. Reading have been really good in possession since waking up.
34 min Rooney plays a beautiful first-time pass, straight outta 2007, to put Rashford through again. He shapes to go round Al-Habsi, who stays on his feet, so Rashford has to drive a low shot that hits the legs of Al-Habsi and goes behind. Rashford has looked really sharp today, playing up front for the first time in a while, but he’ll be annoyed that he hasn’t scored at least once.
33 min “Hi Rob,” says Geoff Wignall. “Great as Stam was in his time at Old Trafford, those of a certain age will recall the equally great Martin Buchan, those of us even older will remember also Tony Dunne, albeit a full back so hard to compare directly. However there’s no need to have had quite so many birthdays to remember the finest of all: step forward Paul McGrath, the most outstanding defender I’ve seen at an English club in over 50 years of following football (and one who also managed to be a world-class midfielder).”
I wish I’d seen Buchan in his pomp. Fair point about McGrath. He was so astonishingly good at Villa that I’ve almost forgotten he used to play for United.
32 min You want a Wayne Rooney goals record interactive? We’ve got a Wayne Rooney goals record interactive.
30 min Rooney tries to score his 250th United goal with a little chip from 20 yards. It drifts a few yards away.
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29 min Evans rakes a gorgeous outside-of-the-foot pass down the right – think Gazza v Czechoslovakia in 1990 - for Kelly, who bursts into the box and drives a low cross that is palmed away by Romero. Reading are playing some lovely stuff now.
28 min “Stam’s legendary status owes to the fact that he was only there for three years, I’d say, something only bolstered by Fergie’s own insistence that it was his biggest mistake (David Moyes, anyone?),” says Michael Simpson. “The what could have been is one of the most enticing fantasies in sport - just look at your own, half-joking point about Rooney and Maradona. Somehow in our heads Stam has come to embody defensive perfection even though, and without taking anything away from him, both Vidic and Ferdinand were probably better players.”
I wasn’t joking at all about Maradona. And nor, more important, was Johnny Giles. As for Vidic and Ferdinand, I don’t agree. Both greats, undoubtedly, but Stam played with far less midfield protection. At their peak I’d take Stam over both. In a way, Stam was Vidic and Ferdinand combined.
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27 min Rashford misses an open goal! He was played through by a lovely angled pass from Smalling, went smoothly round the outrushing Al-Habsi but then swept his shot into the side netting from a tight angle.
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25 min Reading are playing some good stuff now, moving the ball around confidently in the Ajax style. They were almost weirdly passive for the first 20 minutes. Kermorgant wins another corner on the right. It’s driven very deep to Van Den Berg on the edge of the box. He volleys it back across goal and Moore, on the six-yard line, can’t make contact as he flicks out his right leg. Had he done so he would probably have scored; instead the ball drifted a few yards wide.
23 min A Reading corner almost leads to a goal - for United. Martial runs half the length of the field, with Gunter backpedalling all the way, before hitting a shot that is fumbled by Al-Habsi and claimed at the second attempt.
21 min McCleary’s deep, dinked cross is volleyed back across goal by Beerens, and the ever alert Carrick makes a vital challenge to deny Kelly a tap-in. That was Reading’s first good attack after a dreadful start to the game.
20 min This is a blow for United: Marcos Rojo, a key player these days, is limping off to be replaced by another key player these days, Phil Jones.
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19 min “By the nature of the game, it’s often the flair players that make bigger impacts,” writes Matt Dony. “Their exploits are romanticised and woven into the fabric of clubs much more quickly than defensive players. Which makes Stam’s standing at United all the more remarkable. As an outsider, I’m genuinely amazed he was only there for three years. I can’t think of many other defenders, any any clubs, who left such a strong impression in such a short time. Titus Bramble, maybe?”
Ginola at Newcastle? Neil Redfearn at everywhere?
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Reading (Martial 15)
This is a lovely goal, but far too easy for United. Martial plays a one-two with Rooney, fronts up Moore on the left side of the box and passes the ball almost tenderly into the far corner. After a few months of youthful angst, Martial is playing brilliantly once again.
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13 min Martial floats an attempted curler too close to Al-Habsi. United are in total control at the moment.
10 min It’s 4484 days since Rooney scored that amazing hat-trick, all from outside the area, against Fenerbahce on his United debut. He was an astonishing force of nature back then and, while he didn’t become the English Maradona that we all hoped, his statistical legacy brooks no argument: nobody has scored more goals for England or Manchester United.
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GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Reading (Rooney 7)
Wayne Rooney joins Sir Bobby Charlton as the leading goalscorer in Manchester United’s history. Martial went on a superb run infield from the left before playing it back to Mata. He crunched a mishit shot across goal, and Rooney improvised to thigh the ball over Al-Habsi and into the far corner. Did he mean that? Who cares.
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4 min “Hi Rob,” says Aditya Devavrat. “Regarding your statement on Jaap Stam - which I’m sure you didn’t think would prove to be this controversial! - I think if one were to look at it simply as, of all the defenders who have at some point played for United, which one was the best, then Stam could easily top that list. But with something more vague like greatest defender in club history, in which things like longevity or time spent at the club also come into play, I’m not sure you could put Stam over Vidic, Ferdinand, Bruce, Pallister, etc.”
Yes that’s true. I was referring purely to the highest level of performance of which each player was capable. At his best, and especially in the Treble year, Stam was awesome. And he had everything. He was one of the fastest beefcakes I’ve ever seen.
2 min Rooney, who needs one goal to equal Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249 for United, is denied by an excellent save from Al-Habsi. Rojo’s pass over the top was expertly controlled on the run by Rooney, who then rifled a low shot across goal with his left foot from a tight angle. Al-Habsi got down really smartly to his left to make a strong-wristed save.
34 seconds A long kick downfield from Romero bounces through to Rashford, who runs at the backpedalling Moore and flashes a sidefooted shot not far wide from the edge of the area.
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1 min Peep peep! Reading, in blue and white, kick off from right to left. Manchester United are in red.
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On the subject of the FA Cup, Reading and legendary Manchester United centre-halves...
An email! “Stam the greatest defender in United’s history?” sniffs David Wall. “More significant to them than the likes of Vidic, Gary Neville, Steve Bruce, or Denis Irwin (you might even make a leftfield case for Park Ji-Sung after his reinvention as a defensive winger)? He was a super player for United but I wonder if his reputation is burnished somewhat by the fact that he left long before his career started to decline so is only remembered for a few years there when at his peak. Perhaps, to balance it out, his United legacy should be grouped with the career of his unfortunate lookalike William Prunier. He’d drop down the pecking order then for sure.”
I didn’t say most significant – he was only there three years – but at his peak, specifically in April 1999, you can make a strong case that he was better than anyone. Ferdinand would run him closest among the centre-backs I think. I suppose it’s hard to compare centre- and full-backs.
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Team news
Manchester United (4-2-3-1) Romero; Young, Smalling, Rojo, Blind; Carrick, Fellaini; Mata, Rooney, Martial; Rashford.
Substitutes: Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan, Schweinsteiger, Fosu-Mensah, Jones, J Pereira.
Reading (4-3-3) Al-Habsi; Gunter, Van Den Berg, L Moore, Blackett; Williams, Evans, Kelly; McCleary, Kermorgant, Beerens.
Substitutes: S Moore, Cooper, Swift, Obita, Samuel, Meite, Watson.
Referee Andre Marriner.
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Preamble
Hello. I wonder what Ivan Zamorano is up to today. It’s hard not to think of Zamorano, given that Jaap Stam is returning to Old Trafford. Stam was only at United for three years but has the enduring impact of a one-club man. Unusually, he is both a legend and a cult hero. He was adored by United fans for many reasons: silently informing Zamorano of the challenges of playing away from home, umpteen masterclasses in one v one defending, measuring 5.4 on the Richter Scale at Highbury - and most of all because he just got it. Every team has players they love for that reason more than any other.
Stam might even be the greatest defender in the club’s history. So while he says today’s FA Cup third-round tie is not about him – and he is a fascinatingly unsentimental man - deep down he knows it is. It’ll be a 90-minute encore of “Yip Jaap Stam”, with a football match as the backdrop.
Stam has always been a different type of tough guy: intelligent, softly spoken and polite. As a player he was a dormant volcano. As a manager he is a football romantic who believes in the Ajax way. He has done an outstanding job at Reading, who are third in the Championship and will fancy their chances of an upset, especially if Jose Mourinho rotates his squad ahead of the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
Kick off is at 12.30pm.
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