MANCHESTER UNITED 1
SWANSEA CITY 2
MANCHESTER // Forget about the supposed magic of the FA Cup. This is the misery of Manchester United. It is a sign of how far and how fast they have fallen that perhaps this has not even been classed as a shock.
A few years ago – even a few months back – there would have been something surreal about the sight of Swansea City winning at Old Trafford. Not now. Not when West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur have already triumphed on United’s hallowed turf. Not, too, when Michael Laudrup’s team were the more composed and assured. This was not a smash-and-grab raid. It was a pass-and-move victory.
It was sealed in the 90th minute when Wilfried Bony, soaring above a static defence, converted Wayne Routledge’s cross. United were ejected from the FA Cup at the third-round stage, Moyes dejected.
The harrowing afternoon took a particular toll on the beleaguered manager. Seventh in the Premier League table, eliminated from the FA Cup, United are in, by their standards, a crisis. With every setback, it increasingly appears the job of succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson is too big for Moyes.
With each defeat, the chance of redemption fades.
If there is to be a silver lining to a distinctly cloudy first season at Old Trafford, it will have to come in the League Cup. Yet the proximity of tomorrow’s semi-final first-leg against Sunderland affected his thinking. United’s propensity for self-harm was evident as they were weakened by their manager.
The simple reality is that Moyes picked the wrong side, got the wrong performance and the wrong result. As he omitted the spine of his strongest side, it merely served to underline the ordinariness of their deputies and the scale of their problems.
It was telling that when they won a free kick 15 metres from the Swansea goal, they had Alexander Buttner and Tom Cleverley standing over it. In days gone by it was Cristiano Ronaldo or David Beckham. This was United without their luminaries, shorn of stardust. There are times when they are bailed out by the men who top the bill; this showed how substandard the supporting cast are.
Too many floundered when they needed to flourish. Rio Ferdinand was left running in treacle when Routledge scored the equaliser. Fabio da Silva, only on for less than five minutes, was rightly red-carded for a dangerous lunge at Jose Canas. Shinji Kagawa, a supposed match-winner, was anonymous and ineffective.
It is revealing that so many hopes rest with Adnan Januzaj. There is a reliance on a teenager who only made his debut this season to rescue his teammates. On this occasion, he couldn’t.
Yet if the result was a new low, the general performance was merely typical of the malaise. It was sadly symptomatic of a season of decline.
Old Trafford was flat, as it often is. There is a feeling of being resigned to mediocrity, as though the glory years were just a mirage.
In contrast, there is no doubt this is a golden era for Swansea. Last season’s League Cup winners were without Michu, Michel Vorm and Nathan Dyer. They left half of the first-choice back four, Angel Rangel and Ashley Williams, on the bench. They were not missed.
Swansea had more craft, as they showed with a beautifully crafted opener. Bony laid the ball back to Alejandro Pozuelo, who pierced the United defence with his pass. Routledge accelerated past Ferdinand with consummate ease and lobbed the advancing Anders Lindegaard with enviable confidence.
Then, for once, United responded. Javier Hernandez ended his longest goal drought in England, volleying in the most enticing of left-wing crosses from Buttner. The Mexican striker had been a symptom of United’s troubles and this was his first strike since October. Yet his form did not return with the goal.
Instead, Buttner was the one United player Moyes could say did perform well.
Nevertheless, another reserve full-back was the major culprit, Fabio coming on and then going off in a matter of minutes.
Then the Ivorian forward Bony struck against United’s 10 men to give Swansea their first victory at Old Trafford.
Once again, Moyes and United had made history: the wrong sort.
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