FIVE ASIDES FA Cup, fourth round: Newport 2, United 4
When United won the FA Youth Cup in 2022, several players stood out and two of them are now first-team regulars. The first was a striker whose blazing talent was accompanied by one noticeable flaw. ‘In Alejandro Garnacho,’ we said at the time, ‘United have a superstar, albeit one who, like that little prodigy we all played with at school, is sometimes disinclined to pass the ball.’ The other was a shining light in the middle of the park. ‘Kobbie Mainoo,’ we said, ‘was two midfielders in one – a sturdy shield one minute, a shimmying playmaker the next.’ Playing in the FA Cup proper at the weekend, both these talents, both still teenagers, showed that they haven’t changed much.
First, the good news. Mainoo, who has had to play the role of the shield in Casemiro’s absence, was liberated by his return. He wasn’t quite the playmaker as that is Bruno Fernandes’ job, but he was 10 yards further forward than he has been recently, a definite No. 8 not a No. 6, and for the first time he was more than merely neat and tidy. In between reeling off gorgeous passes, he scored his first senior goal with a shot that was precise, elegant and composed. He pirouetted like a dancer and picked his spot like a surgeon. The goal came in his ninth senior start, from only his third senior shot, and they’ve all been on target. Two of the three may have been against modest opponents – Wigan and Newport – but still, here is yet another sign of Mainoo’s immense promise.
Now, the bad news. After Mainoo’s strike – and an equally clinical one from Fernandes – had put them 2-0 up inside 13 minutes, United should have been heading for the realms they never seem to reach, the land of 5-0 or 6-1. Instead they blew their lead and, for 20 minutes, the tie was on a knife-edge. Garnacho’s selfish streak was a big part of the problem. When he flew down the left, six minutes after Mainoo’s big moment all he had to do was square the ball for Fernandes and Rasmus Hojlund, who were queuing up for the tap-in – but he went for glory with a blast that shook the bar. Fernandes and Hojlund both remonstrated with him, and Fernandes, unusually, pointed the finger afterwards. ‘We have to kill it off,’ he said. ‘We had chances to make it 3-0 but in these games, everyone wants to score and we don't get the best decisions for the team.’ He didn’t need to name Garnacho: with a bit of luck, he will have shamed him.
For the first half-hour, United were very fluent. Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw lifted the whole left side of the team with their forward thinking (Marcus Rashford, if he wasn’t really ill, may have been kicking himself for not being there), and Shaw played a part in the first and third goals. The return of Casemiro was more of a mixed blessing. He sat very deep, which was surely uncalled-for against a club from League Two. He picked up a needless yellow card, as so often: for a veteran, he does lunge in like a novice. But he also brought that unhurried ease of his, the air of authority that will be needed in the next fortnight against Wolves, West Ham and Villa.
With Harry Maguire getting a few minutes too, the only players still injured are from the bench rather than the first XI. There’s Tyrell Malacia (knee), Victor Lindelof (groin), Mason Mount (calf) and Anthony Martial (also groin). At Wolves on Thursday, depending on whether he suspends Rashford, Erik ten Hag could pick the XI he probably most favours at the moment: Onana (on his way back from a farcical time at the Africa Cup of Nations); Dalot, Varane or Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro; Mainoo, Fernandes; Garnacho, Hojlund, Rashford. The subs could be Bayindir (who showed some presence on his United debut), Wan-Bissaka, Maguire or Varane, Eriksen, McTominay, Antony (who got his first goal and assist of the season at Newport, and still managed to sabotage several United attacks), Amad (who really should have had half an hour in Antony’s place), Omari Forson (who sparkled for a few minutes), and Charlie McNeill (whose very existence sometimes seems a mystery to Ten Hag). United will have to be better than this in the next round, at Nottingham Forest or Bristol City. But at least they’re in it.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian.