Resilient Manchester United battle back to secure FA Cup final berth
Mauricio Pochettino is a man of principles and he stuck to those principles today as he named Michel Vorm in the starting XI in place of Hugo Lloris. Vorm, nominally Tottenham’s backup goalkeeper, has featured in every FA Cup game leading up to the semi-final meeting with Manchester United and it was only fair, at least in the eyes of Pochettino, that the Dutchman would feature from the off at Wembley. It was a year ago to the day that Spurs fell to a 4-2 semi-final loss to Chelsea and Vorm would have started that match had he not been injured prior to the loss.
While the previous meeting between these two saw Spurs score after 13 seconds, it took a little longer for the north London side to draw first blood. As they looked to put their FA Cup semi-final hoodoo to rest, Spurs couldn’t have started better as Dele Alli tucked away in the opening exchanges. Davinson Sanchez picked out Christian Eriksen with a sumptuous ball up the right flank, with the Dane on hand to whip in a perfect cross for Alli score his third goal in his last four competitive Tottenham appearances.
Spurs, though, were ahead for the best part of 15 minutes before former Arsenal man Alexis Sanchez headed in the equaliser. Paul Pogba caught Mousa Dembele dawdling in possession and having robbed the Belgian of the ball, delivered an inch-perfect cross for Sanchez to head past Vorm, that the Chilean’s fifth goal on his fifth Wembley appearance. Eric Dier came close to putting Spurs ahead on the interval, but was saw his low drive deflected onto the post as the two teams went in at the break level.
After an open first half, space was at a premium in the second half. Either side could’ve realistically taken the initiative and it was United who duly capitalised as Ander Herrera thumped a low effort past Vorm. The Spaniard has scored only two Manchester United goals this season, but both have come in the FA Cup, first against Yeovil and then against Tottenham. Pochettino’s faith in Vorm, though, was telling, with the Dutchman electing to try and deny Herrera with his right hand rather than his foot, which meant he was slow to get down and saw the ball driven underneath the experienced shotstopper.
Spurs huffed and puffed for the goal that would’ve taken the tie to extra time, with Lucas Moura flashing a long range strike wide with five minutes to play, but it wasn’t to be for Spurs, who fell to their eighth successive FA Cup semi-final defeat. The loss though spoke volumes of United’s resilience and ability to grind out the necessary victory. When these two met in the league at Wembley, United lacked the mental toughness to force their way back into the game, but all that changed at Wembley on Saturday.
They fought valiantly to cancel out Alli’s early goal before digging deep to secure their FA Cup final berth. The battling display was epitomised by the performance of man of the match Ander Herrera, who returned a WhoScored rating of 8.36. He made more tackles (5) than any other player in the final, while nobody made more interceptions than Jose Mourinho’s Spanish pitbull (3). He, like the rest of his teammates, started the game slowly, yet an error from Dembele gave United the belief they could go on an win and once Herrera fired them ahead, there was little chance of Spurs hauling their way back into the clash.
Indeed, Spurs could’ve continued playing past the 90 and wouldn’t have scored, with Moura’s potshot the epitome of a team that was deflated once United went ahead. It was also a testament to Mourinho’s knack of getting the best out of his team in knockout matches. While they flattered to deceive against Sevilla, United were at their resolute best at Wembley and were rewarded with a place in the FA Cup final.
