After the upset: How do Manchester United respond?

Dave Tickner
Leeds United's English forward Jermaine Beckford celebrates after scoring against Manchester United during their English FA Cup football match at Old Trafford in Manchester, north-west England, on January 3, 2010. AFP PHOTO/PAUL ELLIS - FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY Additional licence required for any commercial/promotional use or use on TV or internet (except identical online version of newspaper) of Premier League/Football League photos. Tel DataCo +44 207 2981656. Do not alter/modify photo. (Photo credit should read PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

What will Manchester United do next after crashing out of the Carabao Cup to Derby this week? We’ve taken a look at 10 other times they ballsed it up in the cup and, based on the historical evidence, they’ll either pick up a vaguely underwhelming point or embark on a six-game winning streak that propels them to the Double…

 

The upset: Manchester United 0-3 York City, September 20 1995
The defining Manchester United cupset of the Fergie Era as a team featuring stars such as Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville, a 20-year-old David Beckham and Kevin Pilkington were put to the sword in the first leg of a League Cup second-round clash by Division Three’s York City. Paul Barnes scored twice as the Minstermen had a rare old time of it in front of a sparse and disbelieving Old Trafford crowd.

The response: Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Manchester United, September 23 1995
A goalless draw at Hillsborough left United two points behind Newcastle at the top of the table, which turned out not to matter too much in the end. This was the first in a run of three draws – including a 2-2 draw against Rotor Volgograd that saw United crash out of the UEFA Cup at the first hurdle on away goals despite Peter Schmeichel’s late equaliser – before a 3-1 win at York failed to undo the first-leg damage as United halved their potential trophy haul by September’s end. You’ll win nothing with kids, as they say. Nothing apart from the Double.

 

The upset: Ipswich Town 2-0 Manchester United, October 14 1997
Two years after the York Unpleasantness came another early League Cup exit, this time at the hands of Ipswich. Mauricio Taricco scored while a young Kieron Dyer pulled the strings in midfield and Richard Wright held firm as United tried but failed to launch a second-half fightback.

The response: Derby 2-2 Manchester United, October 18 1997
Six months after announcing himself to English football with that goal at Old Trafford, Paulo Wanchope punished Manchester United again with more snake-hipped defence-dumbfounding jinkery to double Derby’s lead after Teddy Sheringham missed from the penalty spot. United, though, shook themselves out of their funk and hit back in the second half to force a 2-2 draw, Sheringham atoning for his spot-kick blunder and Andy Cole nabbing a point with an 84th-minute leveller. A draw left United one point behind Arsenal in the table, where they would remain come the end of the 1997/98 season with very little drama in between…

The upset: West Brom 2-0 Manchester United, December 3 2003
We jump forward to December 2003 and it’s the League Cup fourth round this time, and what euphemistic convention requires us to describe as a youthful United side gets what for from First Division West Brom, who could even afford to miss a penalty. Chris Eagles replaced a young Portuguese winger as United tried to claw their way back into the game in the closing stages, alas to no avail.

The response: Manchester United 4-0 Aston Villa, December 6 2003
Now that’s more like it. The big boys and Quinton Fortune returned to the fray, as a first-half brace for Ruud van Nistelrooy and a couple of late coats of gloss from Diego Forlan sent Villa packing in fine style. United would go on to finish third behind Arsenal’s Invincibles and Chelsea.

 

The upset: Southend 1-0 Manchester United, November 7 2006
Ten full internationals including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney couldn’t prevent Championship strugglers Southend pissing on Fergie’s 20th anniversary chips thanks to a cracking Freddy Eastwood free-kick in this fourth-round League Cup clash at a bouncing Roots Hall.

The response: Blackburn 0-1 Manchester United, November 11 2006
Rooney spurned a trio of pretty straightforward first-half chances before Louis Saha’s close-range finish from a tidy Ryan Giggs cutback secured a deserved victory and preserved a three-point lead over Chelsea atop the Premier League. That lead would eventually grow to six as United ended an unthinkable four-year Premier League title drought.

 

The upset: Manchester United 0-2 Coventry City, September 26 2007
Another early League Cup exit at the hands of lower-league opposition as Michael Mifsud’s double meant Jonny Evans’ first-team debut ended in disappointment.

The response: Birmingham 0-1 Manchester United, September 29 2007
Not an emphatic result, but the start of an emphatic run. With Ronaldo blossoming into the all-conquering shirt-eschewing goalscoring colossus we know and love today, his winning goal at St Andrew’s marked the start of a six-game winning streak in which United would score four goals in four successive games against Wigan, Aston Villa, Dynamo Kiev and Middlesbrough. United would go on to pip Chelsea to both the Premier League and Champions League.

 

The upset: Manchester United 0-1 Leeds, January 3 2010
Perhaps one of the more painful upsets on the list for coming in the FA Cup and against the worst of all possible lower-league opponents. Leeds were still in League One at the time, 42 places below United in the English football pyramid, but inflicted Sir Alex’s first FA Cup defeat by lower-league opposition thanks to Jermaine Beckford’s first-half goal.

The response: Birmingham 1-1 Manchester United, January 9 2010
Birmingham the opponents once more, and this time it took a controversial Scott Dann own goal – Mark ‘Clattz’ Clattenburg overruling an offside flag against Rooney to award it – for United to rescue a draw after Cameron Jerome opened the scoring in the first half.  The point took United within one of Chelsea at the top of the table, which is precisely where they found themselves 18 games later.

 

The upset: Manchester United 1-2 Crystal Palace (aet), November 30 2011
Glenn Murray’s extra-time header took Championship side Crystal Palace into the League Cup semi-finals at United’s expense after Darren Ambrose’s ludicrous 35-yard thunderbastard had been cancelled out by Federico Macheda, who was once the future.

The response: Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester United, December 3 2011
Again, a grinding start to a fine run as Phil Jones’ first career goal just about saw off an insipid Villa. It was becoming a theme – this was United’s fourth 1-0 win in five Premier League games. Yet in the four that followed they would score 16 goals in wins over Wolves, QPR, Fulham and Wigan before eventually getting AGUERROOOOOOOOOed on the final day.

 

The upset: MK Dons 4-0 Manchester United, August 26 2014
If the defeat to York is the standout defeat of the Fergie years, then this surely stands as the post-Fergie nadir for piss-poor cup exits. With no European football after the previous season’s seventh-placed finish, United were forced to slum it in the second round and came immediately – horrifically – unstuck. There was an experienced core to United’s side – David De Gea, Jonny Evans, Danny Welbeck, Anderson, Shinji Kagawa and Javier Hernandez all started – but according to the BBC report those stars and United’s own youth prospects were ‘outshone’ by a cocksure 18-year-old called Dele Alli as doubles for an ablaze Will Grigg and Benik Afobe won the day.

The response: Burnley 0-0 Manchester United, August 30 2014
United had already lost to Swansea and drawn at Sunderland in a heroically bleak start to the Louis van Gaal era, one pockmarked by sterile, joyless and often goalless domination that would be perfectly summed up by the subsequent 0-0 draw at Turf Moor. United’s shiny new £59.7m signing Angel Di Maria made his debut against a team who had at that time spent £15m less on transfers in their entire history. United had two-thirds of the ball and managed a grand total of five shots, two of which were on target.

 

The upset: Manchester United 0-0 Middlesbrough (Boro win 3-1 on pens), October 28 2015
More Van Gaal woe, with his team still only managing to muster one goal against Championship opposition at home even after 120 minutes and a penalty shoot-out. Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ashley Young all missed from the spot. It was United’s third League Cup defeat to lower-league opposition in four attempts.

The response: Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester United, October 31 2015
Of course it was.

 

The upset: Bristol City 2-1 Manchester United, December 20 2017
Jose Mourinho does generally take the League Cup seriously, and won it in his first season at Manchester United. But there would be no defence of that title, as Korey Smith’s injury-time winner sparked bedlam at Ashton Gate. Mourinho had made 10 changes, but a front three of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was hardly a sign of disrespect. United did carve out chances in an open game, but it was the Robins’ own bravery in attacking to the very last that paid off.

The response: Leicester 2-2 Manchester United, December 23 2017
The first of three straight festive draws that left United a distant 15 points short of the runaway leaders from across the city, and the second time in a week that United paid for an injury-time lapse as a pre-national-treasure-status Harry Maguire pounced to equalise in the fourth added minute.

 

Dave Tickner