Luton 0-3 Manchester United: Carabao Cup third round – as it happened!
22-Sep-2020 21:29:54 | The Guardian
Goals from Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood gave United a flattering scoreline and a date with Preston or Brighton
Related: Manchester United rely on Greenwood and Rashford to overcome Luton
Thanks for joining me, and for your emails and tweets. Will see you next time. Bye!
Ole Gunnar Solskjær on the transfer window:
We’re working with the [players] we have at the moment, we’ll let you know if there are any changes.
Nathan Jones speaks:
For 85 minutes, I thought we were outstanding. It’s two counter-attacks at the end when we’re trying to score. But I thought the quality we showed, so proud of the team.
It was an unnecessary penalty. Stand up, stay on your feet. I’m beaming with pride though. Now we’re looking forward to the league, where we want to do something.
Friends in high places.
Rémy Cabella gives Krasnodar the lead and celebrates in style ✨
Jesse Lingard would be proud pic.twitter.com/fjidCdeGPp
Manchester United will play one of Preston or Brighton (who play tomorrow) in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. They so easily could have been heading into a penalty shootout, if it hadn’t been for Henderson’s save and Bailly’s block with 10 minutes to go.
This result flatters Solskjær’s side.
This kid is good at football. Greenwood drives infield from the right wing, throws a stepover and curls one into the corner. Shea should have done better really, I think there was a nasty bounce on the way through.
90 min: Two added minutes here. Greenwood feeds Lingard, who has another shot over the bar. He really needs a goal.
Greenwood shows great awareness and strength to hold off his marker and slp Rashford in behind with a reverse flick. Rashford’s first touch does it all: out of his feet and an easy pass into the corner with his second.
86 min: “On a scale of Mourinho to Moyes, just how poor have United been? (You can make up which end of the scale is bad v abysmal).”
This has been very Mourinho. Generally quite poor, but have done enough to avoid embarrassment.
84 min: Yellow card for Hylton, who was high and late on Williams.
82 min: Remember, Luton need just one goal to take this to a penalty shootout.
80 min: Luton so nearly equalise! A free kick wide on the right is send in, Lockyer climbs above Matic to nod it down and Henderson scrambles to keep the ball out of his near post. Lockyer jumps on the rebound, booting it low towards goal, but Bailly throws his body in the way on the line! United desperately clear!
78 min: Manchester United respond with a TRIPLE change.
Greenwood, Rashford and Fernandes on (gulp)
76 min: Luton have been drifting in this game, and they make some subs.
76' First game changers on for the Hatters...
↪ Harry Cornick
↩ Jordan Clark
↪ Elliot Lee
↩ George Moncur
0-1 ⚫#CarabaoCup #COYH
74 min: Van de Beek is next to have a go, pouncing on a loose ball inside the ball to slam the ball goalwards from a tight angle. Shea does well to save with his feet, it so easily could have squirmed under him.
72 min: Lingard should score, but he skies a glorious chance over! Some neat passing from Mata and Fred gives Lingard half an yard to get his shot off from around the penalty spot. But on his favoured right, he curls it three yards over. That’s poor, even if Jesse does claim a deflection.
70 min: “No-one should be too hard on the Man Utd ‘performance,’” emails Geoff Wignall. “It’d be unrealistic to expect anyone to crush Luton’s reserves by fielding a mere nine full internationals.”
68 min: Kioso goes on an adventure from right back, ending up as Luton’s most advanced player but slightly loses control of the ball and fouls Bailly rather badly in trying to win it back. Yellow card.
66 min: Just a reminder that we’ll go straight to penalties if there is a draw tonight. No extra time.
64 min: Matic tries his luck from range, powerfully struck inside the near post, but Shea is there to repel.
62 min: Luton clear the ball off the line! Mata, who has been the best player on the pitch, floats a great cross to the back post. Lingard is lurking, and gets a good connection on a volley from a tight angle. It beats Shea in Luton’s goal but Lockyer recovers to hook it clear!
59 min: Williams is very quick, isn’t he?
57 min: Yellow card for Brandon Williams, who cynically brings down LuaLua on a dangerous counter-attack for Luton. A good foul, as they say.
It’s all over at West Ham, who have beaten Hull City 5-1 in the other late Carabao Cup tie. Two late goals for Andriy Yarmolenko and Sébastien Haller.
53 min: Van de Beek latches onto a Mata pass, and feeds Lingard who drifts into a central area and looks to curl one … but it ends up in Row Z.
51 min: Both teams have very strong benches. Rashford, Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes feature on United’s, while Luton have star striker James Collins lurking on their sideline.
49 min: Referee Tim Robinson has noticed that there is still a cone on the pitch from half-time, so there’s a brief, but exciting, stoppage in play.
@michaelbutler18 a cone? Surely Man Utd's half-time substitution of Fred
47 min: Hylton flashes a low centre across United’s six-yard box, but there is nobody to tuck the ball home.
Peeeeeep! We’re off again at Kenilworth Road.
West Ham are still playing, 3-1 up against Hull.
There is also this story from earlier.
Related: David Moyes and two players leave West Ham game after Covid-19 positive tests
Some upsets, of sorts:
Newport County 3-1 Watford
Luton should feel like there is not much to respect there, with all due respect to Manchester United.”
Another zinger from Darren Fletcher at half-time in the Sky studios.
Half-time looking:
Related: David Squires on … Gareth Bale's second coming at Spurs
Luton are still very much in this.
45 min: One minute added on here. Nathan Jones will be gutted that his side couldn’t get to half time goalless.
Shea dives right, and Mata curls it into the other corner. Was definitely a penalty, but Williams was smart in inviting the contact.
42 min: Moncur with a very clumsy challenge on Williams!
40 min: Five minutes to go in this first half. Manchester United have created one chance, by my count. Shea’s save from Mata. It’s now quite uninspiring stuff. Lingard boots a cross straight out for a goal kick. Solskjær looks glum in the stands.
38 min: Hylton is doing a fine job of holding the ball up against Bailly. Whenever Luton are pressed at the back, they always have the option of hitting it long, and are having a lot of joy with their No 9 in the air.
36 min: The camera pans to … Luton legend Mick Harford on the sidelines. He has on a black gilet and a fine head of hair.
34 min: Kioso looks a very solid player at right back for Luton. Lingard, who started brightly but has faded somewhat on the left wing, has failed to get the better of the Irishman a couple of times recently.
West Ham are now 3-0 up against Hull. Andriy Yarmolenko with a penalty.
30 min: Whisper it, but Luton are the better side at the moment. Clarke cuts in off the right wing, zooms past a couple of black shirts and lets fly. Deflected behind for another corner, which is cleared.
27 min: “In answer to your poser: Who do you think is more one-footed: Fred, Matic or Mata?” asks Nick Chronnell. “Is the answer Tony Valencia?”
Correct.
25 min: Another corner for Luton, who are evidently trying to put some pressure on Henderson. It’s floated to the back post, where some shocking United marking allows Bradley a free header. Blocked! Shinnie volleys the rebound goalwards! Blocked! Kioso has a shock from range … wide!
22 min: Tunnicliffe, who came through the academy at Manchester United and played a couple of times for them in the League Cup a few years ago, is playing like a man possessed in Luton’s midfield. Very fired up and not short of quality either. Luton have felt their way into this match and earned a corner.
Elsewhere, Newport County are now 3-1 up against Watford, it’s West Brom 2-2 Brentford and West Ham 2-0 Hull City. All those games are in the second half.
18 min: Fred goes close! He unloads from 25 yards, it catches a deflection and just flies wide! Shea was stranded but it remains goalless.
17 min: Chance for Luton! The home side break on the counter-attack and pour forward in numbers. Tunnicliffe slips Hylton in down the left, but the striker shoots poorly wide, when he surely should have passed the ball across the face of goal. Tunnicliffe certainly thinks so.
16 min: Lingard has been tidy thus far. If he does leave, I’m not entirely sure where he’ll go. Not good enough for Spurs, no room at Everton anymore … West Ham? Stinks of West Ham doesn’t it.
14 min: Chance! Lingard makes a run to the byline down the left, cuts back towards Van de Beek, who dummies, and Mata is there on the penalty spot to sweep the ball towards the far corner. Shea is at first unsighted, but gets down well to palm it behind!
12 min: Luton captain Sonny Bradley, born in south London and previously of Swedish third-division side IK Frej, has a very impressive array of neck tattoos.
10 min: Maguire, the only player that played against Palace to start tonight, is allowed to gallop up to the edge of Luton’s box with the ball at his feet, so the England defender laces one at goal, which ends up 20 yards wide.
8 min: Who do you think is more one-footed: Fred, Matic or Mata?
6 min: An email from Matt Richman. “Clearly this is not a shared opinion, but I rate Ighalo rather highly as a centre forward. Not only is he an excellent athlete, but he has the nous and ability to hold his own in the box and score some fun goals. Furthermore, he clearly enjoys every goal he scores in a United shirt; here’s hoping he has something to celebrate today.”
He’s an excellent finisher, there’s no getting around that. And sometimes, for a top drawer team, that’s enough. But United are not that yet, and are not going to win the league with him in the starting XI.
4 min: Good turn from Lingard on the half turn, and he drives through the heart of Luton’s midfield impressively, before laying off to Mata, who shoots tamely towards the near post. Shea saves.
2 min: United popping it about. I think Luton have touched the ball once in the opening two minutes.
The teams are out, Luton in their tangerine and blue, United in their changed black and white number. The players of both sides take a knee and away we go. Peeeeeeeeeeep!
Ten minutes into the second half and Watford are still 2-0 down to Newport County.
Darren Fletcher, a Sky pundit tonight, says “Manchester United are the biggest team in the world.”
As stated on the club website:
West Ham United can confirm that David Moyes, Issa Diop and Josh Cullen have returned positive tests for Covid-19.
The club’s medical team were informed of the test results as the team were at London Stadium preparing for this evening’s Carabao Cup third round tie against Hull City. The manager and both players immediately left the stadium and have returned home.
Ed Aarons is our man in Luton tonight. The heady days 2014-15, ladies and gentleman!
Spotted in the toilets at Kenilworth Road pic.twitter.com/kOYTEenoQl
As for Watford, they are one of three other Carabao Cup matches on tonight. They are … 2-0 down to League Two’s Newport County. Yikes.
Elsewhere in the early kick offs, it’s West Ham 0-0 Hull City (a first league start for Jack Wilshere in over a year) and West Brom 0-0 Brentford.
Gareth (“Watford fan...obviously”) has sent the first email of the night: “Luton have made nine changes because their cup final is on Saturday. The game against Watford will be their biggest game for 14 years, bless them.”
You can send me a mail on michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet me @michaelbutler18.
Luton have made NINE changes from the side that beat Derby. Mostly a B-team in progress, with starts for George Moncur (son of John), striker Danny Hylton and Jordan Clark, who has impressed off the bench of late.
Your Hatters to take on @ManUtd tonight in the third round of the @Carabao_Cup #COYH pic.twitter.com/iAaGegPj6l
Here's how we line up to face Luton in our #CarabaoCup third-round encounter #MUFC
The last time Manchester United visited Kenilworth Road, it was 1992 and Alex Ferguson still hadn’t won a league title in England. That day, a Lee Sharpe opener was cancelled out by a Mick Harford header in a disappointing 1-1 draw for the away side, the Luton legend pouncing on a rebound after he had crashed an outrageous header off the crossbar.
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