Key occasions
Coventry deserve higher, however United have been proper on it. Diogo Dalot has been the person of the match to this point and United at the moment are in the identical driving seat as at this stage of final 12 months’s Carabao Cup ultimate towards Newcastle: one objective in open play, one from a set-piece, and, for as soon as, none conceded.
HALF-TIME! Coventry 0-2 Man United
Final summer time United have been fairly ready to promote Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire. Each opted to remain, each have had season, and now each have scored to place United in control of this tie.
GOAL Coventry 0-2 Man United (Maguire 45)
From the ensuing nook, Maguire steers a effective header previous Brad Collins.
44 min Likelihood for Rashford! A protracted ball sends Dalot down the suitable. He cuts again to Rashford, within the inside-right channel, and the shot is a screamer, nicely saved. However …
44 min Coventry take the trace and take a look at going lengthy to Haji Wright. He has the tempo however the ball is simply too near Onana.
42 min Garnacho roams from proper to left, teeing up Rashford, whose first rate cross is changed into a tame shot by a deflection.
40 min Strain from Coventry finally! Eccles does very well, beating two males on the suitable and holding his low cross out of Onana’s attain. However once more Dalot saves the day, sliding in forward of Simms.
38 min Coventry play out stylishly from the again, all diagonals, and so they’ve received 4 males ahead, however Dalot will get a significant interception in.
37 min That free kick is Coventry’s solely shot to this point. They could want to offer Casemiro a dose of his personal drugs.
34 min Casemiro goes lengthy and having enjoyable. He launches the ball into the Coventry space once more, forcing the keeper Bradley Collins to palm it away from the onrushing Garnacho.
33 min Bidwell takes it, left-footed, however can’t clear the wall.
32 min Coventry handle to go ahead. Dalot will get United out of bother however McTominay lands them again in it with a late problem. Free kick, 25 yards out.
30 min After half an hour, not solely are United profitable: they haven’t let Coventry have a shot. Fairly a change from the previous few weeks.
28 min Credit score to Erik ten Hag for taking part in Dalot on the suitable, the place he and Garnacho have fashioned rapport since Christmas.
27 min If Willy Kambwala had been match, McTominay could be sitting on the bench.
25 min McTominay began the transfer himself, feeding Garnacho, who slipped in Dalot on the overlap. McTominay simply stored on working and Dalot, who typically overhits his crosses, received this one excellent – drilled in low, beating the keeper, in order that McTominay simply needed to get one thing on it.
GOAL! Coventry 0-1 United (McTominay 23)
The breakthrough!
23 min Unite have had 77 per cent of the ball and all seven of the pictures, however Coventry have blocked 4 of these and the opposite three have been wayward.
22 min Fernandes finds house for a shot that’s blocked. United win a nook and Garnacho has a go from the D – spinning into Row Q.
20 min Earlier than that the cameras discovered United’s high brass, with Jason Wilcox becoming a member of Dave Brailsford and co. They now have virtually as many chiefs as homeowners. Jim Ratcliffe is anticipated after half-time – he’s simply run the marathon in 4 and a half hours, on the grand previous age of 71.
19 min Likelihood for Rashford! Casemiro sends him an excellent by means of ball and he runs onto it nicely, however then shovels his shot extensive.
16 min “Coventry are setting the tempo,” says Lee Dixon. “Slowing the sport down.”
14 min Coventry, now enjoying on the counter, have a three-on-three, however Mainoo and Maguire snuff out the hazard.
12 min Rashford has one other shot blocked. Coventry’s again 5 are doing their job to this point. Once they clear, Wright will get right into a race with Dalot, which he loses.
11 min Rashford appears up for this. He wiggles inside and finds McTominay on the sting of the field, however Coventry take care of he hazard.
9 min United’s midfield is extra cell with out Casemiro. McTominay strikes the ball rapidly out of defence and pops up once more to ship the ball to the left wing, the place Rashford will get a cutback in, to no person.
8 min Coventry’s flip to interrupt and it’s wanting good till Wan-Bissaka places in a sometimes neat deal with. The nook is headed clear by Casemiro, the brand new Steve Bruce.
Likelihood for Garnacho!
6 min Large miss! United go lengthy, Fernandes heads the ball down … Garnacho will get his positioning all proper, and his lunge all fallacious, connecting solely with skinny air.
6 min Coventry are urgent onerous, pinning United’s makeshift defence again. However when United break, they give the impression of being harmful, with Rashford beating his man and having a shot blocked, after which Garnacho profitable a nook with a cutback.
3 min Kobbie Mainoo units off on a slalom in direction of the D. Has no person instructed him he’s the holding midfielder now?
2 min United have began higher than on their final journey to Wembley, after they conceded to Metropolis after 13 seconds.
1 min The solar is out, the pitch half in shadow as Fernandes kicks off and United return to Onana.
The managers have a pleasant phrase. Mark Robins, in a tracksuit, makes Erik ten Hag, in a go well with, look tall, but it surely’s Robins whose inventory stands greater in the mean time.
The groups are led out by Ben Sheaf and Bruno Fernandes. Of the 2, Fernandes appears the extra anxious.
The Coventry finish of Wembley is a superb sight. A sea of sky blue.
An electronic mail! “A minor level, I do know,” says Jason Jawando, “however Coventry beat United within the fourth spherical of the FA Cup in 1987. Alex Fergusson solely misplaced as soon as within the third spherical, towards Leeds in 2010. Ah thanks, you’re fairly proper – within the third spherical, United had crushed Manchester Metropolis, as they absolutely received’t in the event that they win at this time. I’ll make a correction.
In the meantime, within the relegation six-pointer at Goodison … Everton have gotten a second towards Forest, which ought to make them safe-ish. It’s excellent news for Burnley, who, as issues stand, are respiration down Forest’s necks, solely three factors adrift. Daniel Harris is on the case right here.
Blunt and to the purpose
The ITV pundits are having a chat on the pitch. Ian Wright is sporting orange specs, Roy Keane brown suede sneakers, and Karen Carney a cream go well with. When the dialog turns to United, Carney doesn’t maintain again. “They’re not workforce,” she says. “They’ve good people.”
That is solely the second FA Cup semi-final in Coventry’s historical past. For his or her opponents, it’s the thirty second (a document). United are fairly good at semi-finals, profitable 21 of these 32 video games, however Coventry are flawless. Their lone look got here again in 1987, en path to a well-known triumph (and within the wake of a win over United, within the third fourth spherical at Previous Trafford). They beat Leeds 3-2 within the semi at Hillsborough with the winner coming within the 99th minute, then beat Spurs 3-2 within the ultimate with the winner coming within the 96th minute. There appears to be a sample right here.
Full marks if you understand the names on the United bench. It’s principally a college journey, with Christian Eriksen forged because the long-suffering instructor.
That is considered the twenty eighth totally different again 4 Man United have fielded for the reason that begin of the season. And it’ll absolutely be the slowest pair of centre-backs, with the stately Harry Maguire joined by the even statelier Casemiro. Can they make up for that with their huge expertise? And may Kobbie Mainoo, who has solely ever performed at Wembley for England, step into Casemiro’s sneakers because the participant shielding the defence?
Groups in full
Manchester United (possible 4-2-3-1) Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Casemiro, Maguire, Dalot; McTominay, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford; Højlund.
Subs: Bayindir, Ogunneye, Jackson, Amass, Eriksen, Forson, Antony, Amad, Wheatley.
Coventry (possible 4-3-1-2) Collins; Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell; Van Ewijk, Eccles, Sheaf; O’Hare; Wright, Simms.
Subs: Wilson, Binks, Kelly, Dasilva, Allen, Torp, Tavares, Andrews, Godden.
Groups briefly: O’Hare and Eccles are available for Coventry
Mark Robins makes two modifications, bringing Josh Eccles and Callum O’Hare in for Victor Torp and the suspended Kasey Palmer.
Groups briefly: United down to at least one match centre-back
Willy Kambwals joins United’s interminable damage listing, together with Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat. So Harry Maguire, himself a doubt till just lately, is United’s final centre-back standing. Scott McTominay comes into the beginning XI with Casemiro anticipated to drop again into the again 4. Ellis Simms will likely be licking his lips.
Preamble
Afternoon everybody and welcome to the Mark Robins derby. The FA Cup is all about storylines and this semi-final is all about one of many managers, even when he insists that it’s not.
Robins has gone from abruptly scoring the FA Cup objective that famously purchased Alex Ferguson the time to turn out to be a legend, again in 1990, to slowly turning into a little bit of a legend himself. Seven years into his second stint at Coventry, he’s the longest-serving supervisor within the land after Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola. Within the Championship, the place bosses typically final 5 minutes, he’s the longest-serving supervisor by practically 5 years.
He’s notably adept at recognizing and creating strikers. Final season it was Victor Gyökeres, purchased from Brighton for £1m, offered to Sporting Lisbon for £19m, now valued at £50m and linked with Arsenal. This season it’s been Ellis Simms, purchased from Everton for £6m, knocking within the objectives ever since – he has 15 in 2024, the identical as Cole Palmer. 5 of these objectives have come within the FA Cup, together with the 97th-minute winner within the quarter-final at Wolves.
If Man United had Simms on their employees, Rasmus Højlund wouldn’t be beginning at this time. Much more than most strikers, Højlund lurches from serving to himself to going hungry, and his plate has been empty since he returned from damage seven video games in the past. It’s not simply that he can’t discover the online: he struggles to search out the ball. At Bournemouth final weekend he performed the total 109 minutes with out producing a shot or perhaps a shot-creating motion.
United are nonetheless agency favourites at this time, for good causes. They’ve extra star high quality, they’re used to the massive event, they’ve the stronger bench, and below Erik ten Hag they’ve been extremely environment friendly within the home cups (W15, D1, L2), with a spotless document towards golf equipment from the decrease divisions.
Coventry, although, will actually fancy this. They don’t have anything to lose, they’ll get umpteen possibilities, their supervisor is in full command of his ship, and their win at Molyneux was each bit as thrilling as United’s towards Liverpool. It’s true that they at all times appear to concede a objective, however then United normally concede two.
The kick-off is at 3.30pm (BST) and I’ll be again quickly with the groups.