Thoughts on Newcastle, Ten Hag, Casemiro, Karius and more

Newcastle failed to turn up on the big day but Man Utd had the players and manager to handle the occasion. The Carabao Cup could be their perfect platform.

1) The last Man Utd manager to claim silverware – indeed the last Man Utd manager to lift the League Cup – was a curious champion of the importance and existence of England’s third biggest domestic trophy. Jose Mourinho built his Chelsea dynasty on the foundations laid by winning the competition in 2005, the first tangible proof of coaching brilliance delivered within months of his appointment at a rising Premier League force.

“For me, it’s not so important,” Mourinho said then. “I think for the fans, for the club, for the players – especially for the players who were in this club for a few years without silverware – I think it’s important. It’s very difficult to win for the first time and for these players it’s the first time. For the club it’s the first time over the last five years, so it was very important for us.”

The wait for Man Utd was six years but the sentiment might well be the same for Ten Hag, who will happily add the League Cup to a solid enough personal collection of winner’s medals with Ajax. His squad contains champions of world and continent for club and country who similarly need no further experience of the taste of glory. But only David de Gea, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford had previously won trophies with Man Utd, and that was long enough ago as to render it moot. The fans, the club and the players needed this.

And while it does nothing to guarantee the manager’s long-term success, it has been used often enough by excellent coaches as a gilded platform to establish footballing empires. As long as it feels like another step on the journey instead of the final destination, it can be celebrated and framed perfectly – and this only seems like the start for Ten Hag at Man Utd.

2) It was a Mourinho final performance of sorts. When the Portuguese led Man Utd to Europa League victory over Ajax in 2017, they scored both their goals by the 48th minute and defended diligently thereafter, counter-attacking when possible but retaining complete focus and organisation. The opposition ended with more shots and a far greater share of possession but that was down the game state; Mourinho wanted it to be that way and was in complete control.

Man Utd scored both their goals against Newcastle by the 39th minute and protected it vigilantly while always posing…