Manchester United are the last team to have beaten Manchester City in the League Cup and it was so long ago their manager is in charge of this year’s finalists. Only United will not be at Wembley after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer failed to bookend Jose Mourinho’s scalp in 2016.
What will smart more for Solskjaer is it is four successive semi-final defeats in the space of a year and United’s mental block could have ramifications for their fledgling championship challenge. Their mentality, fortified by Bruno Fernandes, is still not a winning one.
None of their summer recruits started against City and it is against the elite that United’s lack of reinforcements have been exposed this season. That could ultimately separate United from also-rans and winners over the next four-and-a-half months.
Solskjaer waited until the 74th minute to make his first change and all it takes is one injury or suspension to leave United’s attack looking threadbare. Edinson Cavani is nine years older than Anthony Martial and would have offered more energy had he not been suspended.
Martial only completed the duration with Solskjaer unable to call upon an alternative centre forward. Juan Mata and Donny van de Beek have had one start between them in the last month and Mason Greenwood’s introduction was further confirmation he is afflicted with second season syndrome.
Fernandes’s wand had exhausted its spark and United had no other magician to inspire them. Solskjaer has outsmarted Pep Guardiola on memorable occasions but the most recent was 10 months ago and he and Mike Phelan looked stumped.
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