Match report
Full-time: Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic
That was comfortable in the end, after Wigan showed some real fight in the first half. Fellaini’s goal just before half-time was a real killer for the Championship side. Mourinho will be pleased with the day’s work, Schweinsteiger and Shaw got a run out, as did the debutants Pereira and Tuanzebe. Martial went from awful as United No9 to arguably their best player when he switched to the left wing. No injuries to any players, and some key players rested for their game against Hull City on Wednesday.
For Wigan, the focus is now wholly on avoiding relegation from the Championship. They are two points adrift of safety at present, and play Sheffield Wednesday on Friday.
Thanks for reading, and for your emails and tweets. See ya!
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86 min: Martial scores … no Neil Swarbrick disallows it for a high foot from Schweinsteiger! Martial will have desperately wanted a goal to cap (what turned out to be) a good performance, but it is not to be. Buxton competed for a corner with his head, and was caught by Schweinsteiger, before Martial neatly controlled and powered his effort past Haugaard.
84 min: Tunnicliffe tests Pereira with a shot from the edge of the box, but it’s comfortably saved by United’s new boy.
Congratulations, @ElgatoPereira1! #MUFC pic.twitter.com/i2aoRZmnQH
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2017
GOAL! Manchester United 4-0 Wigan Athletic (Schweinsteiger 81)
Schweini! From the corner, Herrera knocks the ball down to Schweinsteiger, who swivels neatly and half shovels, half overhead kicks it into the net from close range. It was more a volley on the turn than an overhead, actually.
Schweinsteiger celebrates by playing a tennis forehand and backhand, which is either a tribute to his wife Ana Ivanonic or Roger Federer, or both.
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80 min: So nearly a own goal! Martial channels a salmon at the back post, leaping above Buxton, and nods the ball back across the six-yard box. Burn gets his foot to the ball, but nearly diverts it into his own net, the ball bouncing just over.
Manchester United make their final change, and it’s in goal! One in the eye for Romero, he’s off for Joel Pereira – no relation to Andreas – who becomes Manchester United’s second debutant of the day!
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76 min: Wigan make a change: Browne on for MacDonald. And with his first touch, Browne shoots at goal, after a big mix-up between Tuanzebe and Smalling, the latter doing well to block Browne’s shot.
GOAL! Manchester United 3-0 Wigan Athletic (Mkhitaryan 74)
Game. Set. Match. A classic counter-attack: Mkhitaryan picking the ball up, driving up the middle lane and releasing Martial down the left. Mkhitaryan continues his run and he receives an inch-perfect return from Martial for an easy tap in. Warnock did not have the pace to keep up with Mkhitaryan.
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73 min: Free header for Connolly … straight at Romero. The Everton loanee perhaps saw the ball late because his header was a weak one, despite being completely unmarked on United’s six-yard box.
72 min: Rooney gets away from Warnock with a nice trick, stands a ball up to Mkhitaryan on the penalty spot, who takes a touch and skews his shot wide with four Wigan players throwing themselves at the ball to block it.
70 min: United make their second change, Fellaini off, Herrera on, whilst Will Grigg comes off for Wigan, to be replaced by Tunnicliffe, formerly of Manchester United.
26-year-olds paying their dads back £50 a week from their Port Vale contract.
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) January 29, 2017
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67 min: Manchester United make the change: Fosu-Mensah comes off for Tuanzebe, who was born in DR Congo, but grew up in Rochdale.
Paul McGuinness, former United youth team coach, has this to say about the 19-year-old:
It was the first time I’d picked a first-year scholar as captain. I don’t think that has happened since Gary Neville was youth-team skipper. Axel did a very good job - on and off the field.
64 min: The game is getting away from Wigan a little bit. They have lost the fluency and energy that they had in the first half, and don’t look the same threat on the counter-attack, despite the introduction of Wildschut.
62 min: Fosu-Mensah goes down after an awkward landing. It’s unclear if he has twisted an ankle or just has cramp but it looks as though he’s going to be replaced by Axel Tuanzebe, who would make his Manchester United debut if he came on.
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59 min: Yanic Wildschut replaces David Perkins. Wigan have to go for broke now, Wildschut is arguably the most dangerous player in Wigan’s squad, reportedly subject of a £4m bid from Norwich, which has been turned down.
GOAL! Manchester United 2-0 Wigan Athletic (Smalling 57)
A similar goal to the first, this time is it Martial who is the provider on the left. He’s so much better out there, bamboozling Connolly, and floating a ball to Smalling at the back stick. He had the run on Warnock, and whilst it wasn’t a clean connection on the ball, Smalling shoulders it in from all of four yards out.
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56 min: Former Wigan manager and current Belgian boss Bobby Martínez is in the crowd. He will have winced and delighted at Fellaini’s goal in equal measure. Burn is given a yellow for a blatant check on Martial to stop a dangerous Manchester United counter-attack.
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54 min: So nearly a disaster for Romero! The Argentinian fumbles the ball straight to the feet of Perkins, who for a second looks as though he has an open goal, but Romero gets to his feet to make amends. Nervy stuff.
52 min: Schweinsteiger intercepts a pass on the edge of Wigan’s box, feints right, goes left and blasts a shot into the midriff of Buxton. Appeals for a penalty go up, no dice.
50 min: Fosu-Mensah gets forward well and Rooney releases the Dutchman, who canters into Wigan’s area, and rushes a shot with his weaker left when there were better option to his left.
48 min: Schweinsteiger just tried to take Morsy on, but got shoulder barged to the ground, and lost the ball. Boy the German can cross a ball, but he’s not the player he was. Sob.
46 min: The experiment of playing Martial through the centre hasn’t worked. He’s back on the left flank, Mata on the right, Rooney playing as the No9, with Mkhitaryan tucked in just behind.
Peeeeeep! And we’re underway again. No changes from either side.
“Haugaard hasn’t had to make a save yet in the Wigan goal …”
“EVERY TIME!!!” sobs Robert Coughlan. “You MBMers really need to put a cork in it!!!!”
The MBMers curse.
@michaelbutler18 @ 42 minutes, was the classic commentators kiss of death for Wigan
— GothicFrog (@GothicFrog) January 29, 2017
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Half-time reading
Half-time: Manchester United 1-0 Wigan Athletic
Wigan were impressive in that half: but for Mkhitaryan’s miss, Manchester United never really threatened. But Schweinsteiger’s classy cross made the difference, spotting that Fellaini had isolated the 19-year-old full back Connolly at the back post.
GOAL! Manchester United 1-0 Wigan Athletic (Fellaini 44)
But now Haugaard has to pick the ball out of his net! After some intricate Manchester United play that came to nothing, Schweinsteiger whips a brilliant cross to Fellaini at the back post. The Belgian is simply too strong for Connolly, who got the wrong side of Fellaini, and he buried the header from five yards out. No chance Haugaard.
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42 min: Haugaard hasn’t had to make a save yet in the Wigan goal …
40 min: Chance for Wigan! Morsy latches onto a loose ball in Manchester United’s area, lays the ball back to Jacobs, but the winger airkicks the ball. He had a clear shot on goal, 15 yards out! Five Wigan players hold their heads in their hands.
38 min: Connolly makes an outstanding defensive header to deny Martial a clear sight on goal. Rooney releases Mata down the right, and the Spaniard looks like he delivers an inch perfect diagonal pass into Martial’s path, but Connolly strains his neck and somehow diverts his header straight to the feet of Perkins.
36 min: Fellaini is again penalised for tugging back Morsy, his second foul on the Egyptian. Fellaini is a little unlucky, it was in fact him that was fouled. Wigan chuck it into the area, where Burn is up from the back. Is he fouled? There’s a lot of jostling, but Smalling probably just gets away with it.
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34 min: Shaw nips in to intercept the pass, and they passes straight to Macdonald. Neatle sums up his Manchester United career.
32 min: “You can’t mention Max Power without a Simpsons reference!” Kevin Wilson correctly emails.
I went to school with a Max Steel. You have to wonder if the parents thought they were being funny, or just had the blinkers on. Baffling.
30 min: What a miss from Mkhitaryan! What a move from Manchester United, though, Martial carrying the ball 50 yards from his own half, feeding the overlapping Fosu-Mensah, who delivers a delicious ball between goalkeeper and defence. Mkhitaryan only has to tap it in at the back post, but the Armenian slices his finish. The goal was gaping, he should have scored!
28 min: Burn has had an excellent match so far. After Fosu-Mensah was lucky to escape a yellow card for a cynical shove on Grigg, Wigan were overcommitted from the resulting free-kick, but an excellent recovering slide tackle from Burn on Mkhitaryan quelled the danger.
25 min: Power, er, powers a shot at goal from 30 yards. It dips and swirls but Romero does well to beat the ball away. It was straight at him, but he did well to collect the ball at the second attempt with Grigg bearing down on him. Rooney is absolutely incensed at referee Neil Swarbrick in the build-up for not awarding a Manchester United free-kick. Temper, Wayne.
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23 min: United go route one, Shaw lofting a ball towards Mkhitaryan. Burns comes across to clean out both man and ball, and the bouncing ball falls to Mata, who can’t get over his shot, volleying his effort over the bar from just inside Wigan’s penalty box.
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21 min: “Thank you for keeping me updated as I drive home to little old Vermont,” writes Evan Michaud. “Regarding Matt’s comments on all the old United goals, I was much more mesmerised by all the fluidity and numbers in attack than any one player. How I miss the glory days.”
It’s true, United are playing quite conservatively here. Both Schweinsteiger and Fellaini, as well as the two United full-backs, are playing extremely deep, which essentially means United’s front four of Mkhitaryan, Mata, Martial and Rooney are having to navigate their way around nine Wigan defenders and midfielders.
18 min: Shaw shows Connolly – who has impressed up to this point – a clean set of heels, but his cross is poor, failing to beat the first man Buxton at the near post.
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16 min: Wigan are really impressing here. Jacobs beats Fosu-Mensah to the ball, Perkins skips past two challenges, but a loose pass is tidied up by Rojo, who boots it up the field twice in quick succession – Wigan’s away support screaming ‘Hooooooof’ as they taunt the home fans.
14 min: “Watching that video of United’s goals against Wigan at Old Trafford put one thing into stark relief: just how knackered Rooney’s body really is,” emails Matt Loten. “His movement, passing, close control - everything was just so much more fluid and natural before the injuries took their toll. I can understand why Mourinho wants to keep him around, given he’s captain and clearly a leader in the dressing room, but he’s a shadow of his former self, and it’s no fault of his own.”
11 min: From the resulting free-kick, 6ft6in centre back Burn wins the knock-down at the far post, and Everton loanee Connolly fires a fierce shot straight at Romero, who beats it away. Good effort, that, powerfully hit.
10 min: Schweinsteiger has had a poor start to the game. Earlier he got his wires crossed with Fosu-Mensah and booted the ball straight out for a throw-in, and now he has just been caught in possession by Jacobs and was lucky to escape a yellow card after bringing the Wigan winger down.
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8 min: Morsy pinches the ball off Fellaini in the middle. He’s an industrious little player, the Egyptian, and today is sporting a cushioned headband not dissimilar to the one worn by Wayne Rooney a few years ago.
6 min: Sir Alex Ferguson is in the stands. He’s smiling – I’m not sure what at – and sitting next to former golfer Sam Torrance.
4 min: Interesting to see how Marcos Rojo gets on today. He’s got a lot more to lose than to gain against the Championship strugglers, but with Eric Bailly coming back from the African Cup of Nations, it will be a struggle to hold onto that starting berth.
2 min: Martial has already given the ball away twice, the second a dreadful cross that lands a good 30 yards away from the nearest Manchester United player.
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Peeeeeep! And we’re off. Send me your thoughts, hopes and dreams via michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet me @michaelbutler18.
Does this mean Wayne Rooney is going to get a stand named after him? Or a statue outside Old Trafford?
#ROONEY250: @SirBobby makes a special presentation to the man who broke his #MUFC scoring record, @WayneRooney. 👏
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2017
Two absolute legends! pic.twitter.com/D2Nr7Iagnu
The players come out to Stone Roses’ This Is The One. Manchester United in their red shirts and white shorts, whilst Wigan are in their third kit – a mainly white number. I have no idea why they are not wearing blue.
Sutton United have beaten in-form Leeds United 1-0! Cue a pitch invasion, which doesn’t really matter when you’ve got a 3G pitch. Two non-league teams in the FA Cup fifth round! Join Ben Fisher for the reaction to that one.
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Wayne Rooney with a nice turn of phrase! He’s going to be honoured on the pitch with some kind of award for breaking Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record at Manchester United.
Sometimes football is like you’re playing underwater. And when you score a goal, it’s like you come up for air for four or five minutes. It’s like breathing.
Rooney has told the BBC that his favourite goal was the bicycle kick against Manchester City, although he admitted that his volley against Newcastle United was a better technical strike.
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Left-back Reece James, is on the bench for Wigan. Stephen Warnock, still truckin’ gets the nod instead. Here’s a piece from Paul Wilson to keep you busy before our 4pm kick-off.
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Includes a lovely effort by former Wigan man Antonio Valencia, who is rested today.
Because we love goals...here's all 28 we've scored against Wigan at Old Trafford! pic.twitter.com/088cxSYa5C
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 29, 2017
José Mourinho’s first game in charge of Manchester United was a win over Wigan in pre-season. Mkhitaryan was brilliant that day, he starts this match.
At that point, Warren Joyce was still a Manchester United coach, but joined Wigan as manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract in November. Joyce was integral in bringing both Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford through the academy and has had this to say about the pair this week:
Pogba was an ordinary kid; in love with football and I’m sure he was in love with Manchester United. He wanted to work and improve and was desperate to be a footballer. I saw him on his first day back and he was the same kid who left, very much part of the group, laughing about the old times and the things we used to say. Maybe there were times when I gave him some stick, they all have stupid things they want to do with their hair but it doesn’t change what’s in his heart or his make-up. As a footballer he can do everything: run, dribble, score, tackle, head, shoot pass long or short. He could do all that and wanted to get better.
Aged 11 you thought Marcus was going to be a player just by the way he glided across the ground. A lot of work went into him in the academy. There were lads in the reserves who probably weren’t as good as him but we wanted him to get that feeling of scoring goals and practising his runs. Marcus is a good lad and a clever footballer. I don’t want him to prove to me he’s a good player, I know he is.
Nine changes made by Mourinho from midweek in what looks like a 4-2-3-1 formation from Manchester United today, with Marouane Fellaini partnering Schweinsteiger at the base of that midfield. Martial gets a start after being dropped from Manchester United’s previous two match-day squads, as does Shaw, who has not featured since the 4-1 victory over West Ham United in November because of injury.
Left-sided player Yanic Wildschut has been in great form for Wigan of late, but he is on the bench today – whether or not that is related to the reported £4m bid from Norwich remains unclear. Also on the bench is former Manchester United academy graduate Ryan Tunnicliffe, who made his dad £10,000 when he made his first-team debut at Old Trafford.
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The teams! Schweinsteiger makes his first start for United in over a year!
Manchester United: Romero, Fosu-Mensah, Smalling, Rojo, Shaw, Fellaini, Schweinsteiger, Mkhitaryan, Mata, Martial, Rooney.
Subs: Ibrahimovic, Blind, Young, Rashford, Ander Herrera, Joel Pereira, Tuanzebe.
Wigan: Haugaard, Connolly, Buxton, Burn, Warnock, MacDonald, Power, Morsy, Perkins, Jacobs, Grigg.
Subs: James, Kellett, Tunnicliffe, Morgan, Jaaskelainen, Wildschut, Browne.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire)
FA Cup at Old Trafford today! Let’s go, @ManUtd! pic.twitter.com/fB7WkDftOl
— Basti Schweinsteiger (@BSchweinsteiger) January 29, 2017
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Preamble
This is the 56th consecutive Manchester United FA Cup match to be shown on live TV, a sequence that first started in 2005, when they played Exeter City. But then, what else are you going to do with your Sunday. Go out? Pah! Read a book? Yeah right.
kind things to do on a sunday xox pic.twitter.com/2CEOnkhvOy
— Chris SimpsonsArtist (@getbentsaggy) January 29, 2017
There is literally nothing else to do until Homeland comes on at 9pm (GMT) so we might as well watch some footballers who earn lots of money play footballers who earn less money, but still lots in the context of everyone else. Pre-match, pundits will bang on about Wigan’s 2013 FA Cup win. They might mention that striker Will Grigg was the subject of a popular chant during the Euros. Then Manchester United will struggle to break down a stubborn Wigan defence until the introduction of Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 72 minutes, who will be fouled by a tired Wigan defender. Wayne Rooney will score the resulting penalty. José Mourinho will look frustrated but inside feel relieved he doesn’t have to go to the DW Stadium for a replay. There, I saved you all the trouble. Now go and read a book.
Kick off: 4pm.
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