EFL Cup Champions 2016/17!!

"Laws are like sausages; (it is) better not to see them being made" - Otto von Bismark

"Keep on learning/Keep on growing
'Cause wisdom helps us understand
We're maturing/Without Knowing
These are the things that change boys to men..."  - New Edition 'Boys To Men'.

In what was an utterly pulsating 94 minutes, Manchester United finally emerged as the English Football League Cup Champions. And boy, what a game it was! The visuals of the Grand-daddy of them all, the imperious Zlatan Ibrahimovic, hunched for several minutes after the final whistle, unable to fully celebrate the victory after exerting and stretching every sinew and muscle on his giant frame, perfectly summates the performance yesterday. There was nothing left in the tank after it was all over. Think Thriller in Manila. Jon Voight in 'The Champ'. The surgery was a success but the patient is dead. Kind of.

Jose Mourinho's eyes post-match were also very telling. While he likes to play the laconic stoic manager after most title victories, you could see that he was somewhat genuinely embarrassed that his side won this very peculiar game in 90 minutes, even at all. But in retrospect, the grizzled veteran would be very familiar with the undulation and indeed unfairness of football matches and would down low give himself a pat on the back. Or ask Rui Faria, his assistant, to help him do it.

Now, the game itself was certainly not pretty from a Manchester United perspective. We were 2 goals up after 38 minutes without doing too much offensively except from being...clinical! (eek!) This is something I would never have thought we would be accused of this season. 3 shots in the 1st half. 3 shots on target. Un-be-lie-vable. It was generally an approach of containment rather than control. Southampton, clearly, were much fresher being that United had played 2 games since the last time the Saints took to the pitch and this was obvious from the onset. It was therefore expected to a certain extent that they would be physically dominant . Nathan Redmond and Ryan Betrand, ordinarily pacy players, would of course be largely unplayable on the left flank. Consequently, criticising Mata, ordinarily leisurely-paced, for being unable to lay a finger on the opponent's midfielders may not be necessary. The continuing incompetence of Chris Smalling as top-level centre half was going to be a secondary factor here. We all knew before now that Rojo was not a left back so constantly seeing him left in wake on the seat of his pants was not strange. Ward-Prowse was a constant menace with his deliveries and the excellent Gabbiadini, who even had a legitimate goal chalked off, kept leaving our defenders in a matrix but... 

Experience, when acquainted with Lady Luck, provides for a very satisfying conclusion. While Southampton did most of the huffing and puffing, Manchester United knew where the remote control was. Using another boxing analogy, this was also the Rumble in the Jungle, Foreman delivering the power shots and leading on points but Ali having the rope-a-dope strategy and knock-out combination to win the contest. And United's rope-a-dope strategy was basically this - Manchester United had Zlatan on the field. Southampton did not.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

A statue should immediately be erected for this man if ('IF') United also win the Europa, FA Cup and achieve a top 4 finish. His legend increases by the day and without the risk of being repetitive, he's been the difference between our challenging all fronts (1 down, 3 to go) and another mediocre season. He towers literally and figuratively over the rest of the team and it's a bit...'worrying' that we are largely dependent on what Zlatan does (or does not do.).

That said, I think he should leave at the end of the season.

Controversial? Maybe. But these are my reasons:

1. It is never a good thing when a team is utterly reliant one player.

2. With his kind of persona, it is inevitable that his teammates will ALWAYS defer to him.

3. Zlatan is 35 years old. It's a miracle what he's doing now and I'm happy about it. But don't expect him to progressively get better. It's called the 'Law of Nature'.

4. If the club is correctly in the market to get another crack striker, can it afford to pay £12 million per year to who should eventually become a substitute? Even if it can, is it wise?

5. Do we want to persist with the game play moulded solely around Zlatan as it currently is or do we want to be progressive? Look to the future rather than rely on the past? Or is Mourinho interested in only spending 3 years certain, no extensions? Then that would make sense...

But this is perhaps not the time for this sort of discussion. We are the EFL Champions! The entire team has shown resilience and a strong mentality to go through each successive game with only 3 or 4 days interval since December. It is easy to criticise but props must be given where and when due. Other teams including the league champions-elect have the luxury of fielding a fresh team for every game but we've needed to mix and match, shuffle, rest, patch up and manage our team. I believe the experience will also fortify the younger players and make them even more desperate for trophies. I see growth. Long may it continue.

Congratulations Manchester United, The EFL Cup Champions for 2016-17!!

     

Next - Bournemouth on Saturday at Old Trafford. Lunch time kick-off. We proceed...

Signing Out,

B.L...

In Other News:

* Claudio Ranieri was eventually sacked by the Board of Leceister City. Emotionally the wrong decision but practically the right one. Football, which has since lost a large portion of its soul to cash, is now fundamentally a business. They may yet be relegated but management is also about tough decisions - something had to give way immediately to stop the slide. Still, name a portion of the stadium after him and erect his statue. Club Legend.

*Harry Kane is turning out to be a very good *insert caveat* English striker. You can't fault the numbers and his effort locally but maybe that famous"quotion" should be flipped; Can he do it on a warm Sunday night in Basque country?

* Juventus won. Bayern won by 8 in Carlo Ancelloti's 1,000th game as a club manager and Paris St. Germain is gaining ground in the Ligue Un. All is well in the world and the earth is round, Kyrie Irving. (Did I mention that Celtic also won? I didn't? Oh, sorry, they did.)