68 2GM Friday March 6 2020 | the times
SportFootball
tion at the break, but it was clearly
Shaw’s goal, only his second in 197
games for Southampton and United.
Shaw’s enterprise from the left was
again seen eight minutes later. He
sprinted into the box, playing the ball to
Ighalo. The Nigerian worked the ball
past Max Lowe and Craig Forsyth
before placing his shot past Roos.
Brought in as a stop-gap measure from
Shenhua Shanghai, the 30-year-old is
proving an increasingly useful loanee.
United fans were now singing about
Wembley, and their team were looking
to add to their lead. Fred’s break upfield
was ended by Rooney’s trip, for which
he was booked. As the second half
opened, Shaw almost made it 3-0 when
running on to Fenandes’s pass and
shooting right-footed, but Roos saved.
United extended their lead with
20 minutes remaining when Ighalo
collected Juan Mata’s return pass, and
although Jayden Bogle blocked his first
shot, the United No 25 drove in the
rebound for his third goal in six games.
There was still time for Rooney to
stroll down memory lane, playing a
wonderful pass to release Marriott,
whose shot was pushed wide by Sergio
Romero. Rooney moved into the No 10
role for the remaining few minutes, but
Derby fans were beginning to head for
the exits. He did manage to open up a
glimpse of goal with four minutes left,
but shot over, eliciting loud chants of
“Rooney, Rooney” from the United
fans. Romero then pushed over a
Rooney free kick, bringing a few sighs
from the away end. United’s support
celebrated their past, lauding Rooney,
and then focused on an improving
present, nine games unbeaten, a
defence looking tighter, Shaw flying,
Ighalo scoring, Fernandes creating and
on another Derby, against Manchester
City this Sunday.Derby County (4-2-3-1): K Roos 6 — J Bogle 6,
C Forsyth 6, G Evans 6, M Lowe 6 — W Rooney 7,
M Bird 7 — J Knight 6, T Lawrence 5 (M Whittaker
44min, 6), L Sibley 7 (G Shinnie 80) — M Waghorn
6 (J Marriott 67, 6). Subs not used B Hamer,
C Davies, M Clarke, C Martin. Booked Rooney.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): S Romero 7 —
D Dalot 7, V Lindelof 7, E Bailly 7, L Shaw 9
(B Williams 80) — Fred 7 (A Martial 73),
S McTominay 7 — J Mata 7, B Fernandes 8
(A Pereira 67, 6), J Lingard 6 — O Ighalo 9.
Subs not used D De Gea, A Tuanzebe, N Matic,
M Greenwood. Booked Bailly, Shaw, Williams.
Referee C Pawson. Attendance 31,379.It was hard not to feel sympathy for
Jesse Lingard last night. A Manchester
United clearance had looped up and
the ball rolled free after Wayne Rooney
failed to control it. Lingard smelt blood.
After almost 90 minutes, finally he had
a sniff of a goal.
Lingard reached across Rooney and
tried to nudge the ball away from him.
Had he been successful, he would have
had a run on goal, but Rooney muscled
him off the ball with ease and turned
towards United’s goal. Lingard huffed
in frustration. The episode summed up
Lingard’s night: full marks for effort and
enthusiasm, but little end product.
Lingard’s goal tally for the season
stands at two in 35 games, and those
came against Astana and Tranmere
Rovers. There is a collective will atLingard is full of effort but his
cutting edge has deserted him
United for the popular Lingard to
succeed and the emotional interview
he gave recently, in which he revealed
he had been taking care of his siblings
while his mother was ill, should mean
he is cut some slack.
But football is a ruthless business,
as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said on
Wednesday, and the No 10 position that
Lingard once called his own now firmly
belongs to Bruno Fernandes. Lingard
has two choices: start somewhere fresh,
or play a bit-part role under Solskjaer.
As much as he tried, it was not the
complete performance that Solskjaer
was looking for and the United
manager’s succinct appraisal of him
spoke volumes.
“He was like the rest of the team,”
Solskjaer said. “He did a professional
job, but it didn’t flow for the team or him
early on.”Paul Hirst0
21
Derby County
Manchester United
Shaw 33, Ighalo 41, 700
3
Two-goal Ighalo
steals the show in
Rooney’s reunion
Henry Winter
Chief Football Writer
FA Cup fifth round
Shaw scored the first goal with a shot that brushed Lingard, right, on its way inMARTIN RICKETT/PA8
All eight FA Cup
quarter-finalists are
top-flight teams. This has
happened in only four
other seasons: 1894-95,
1895-96, 1995-96
and 2005-06The quarter-final draw
Sheffield United
v ArsenalNewcastle
v Manchester CityNorwich City v
Manchester UnitedLeicester City
v ChelseaGames to be played March 20-21Rooney catches up
with Mata, his former
United team-mate
Manchester United fans came to
celebrate Wayne Rooney, who became
the most expensive teenager in world
football on joining them for £27 million
in 2004. They must have left Pride Park
enjoying the form of the player who
became the most expensive teenager in
the world when joining United a decade
later for £31 million. Luke Shaw has
rarely played better than this.
The theme of the evening was United
supporters’ acclaim for their record
goalscorer, and with the tie won, and
the game effectively a testimonial, they
willed Derby County’s No 32 to score.
“If Rooney scores, we’re on the pitch,”
they sang, and he almost did. Derby’s
34-year-old “quarterback” played well,
rolling back the years at times with
some of his passing, especially one
delivery to Jack Marriott, and a couple
of free kicks evoked memories of
some of his most famous dead-ball
moments at United, against the likes of
Fenerbahce, Stoke City and Arsenal.
He was loudly cheered by the Derby
supporters when he slid in strongly on
Scott McTominay early on, conceding
a corner but leaving the United
midfield player sprawled on the floor.
“He wants to prove that there’s still life
in an old dog,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
observed before kick-off, and Rooney
quickly did. The vision, passing range
and appetite remain, even if the
mobility has inevitably slowed.
Derby are shaped for Rooney, and
even with changes, there was plenty of
pace and energy in the lively Louie
Sibley, 18. The England Under-19
international was too strong and clever
for Shaw, racing upfield until being
brought down by the United full back,
his biggest mistake of an otherwise
impressive display. Rooney lifted the
free kick effortlessly over the wall,
forcing Sergio Romero to scramble
across and steer the ball to
safety around the post.
But this was mid-table
Championship against visi-
tors pushing for Champions
League qualification. Phil-
lip Cocu, Derby’s manag-
er, rested some of his
regulars, fielding four
teenagers, slightly
surprising given the
unlikelihood of Derby,
eight points off sixth,
making a run for the
play-offs. Derby may
well have lost anyway
with a full-strength
side and at least there
was an opportunity for
Sibley, who relished this chance to run
at Premier League opponents.
United were too good, even with
Anthony Martial and Mason
Greenwood on the bench, even with
Harry Maguire nursing a slight injury,
and even with Marcius Rashford a
long-term absentee. Bruno Fernandes
was in command, his touch assured,
United’s new director of operations
pointing to his team-mates where he
wanted them to go. Odion Ighalo led
the line strongly in a 4-2-3-1 formation,
given close support by Fernandes, but
the real shining light of the first half was
Shaw, who scored one and made one.
Maybe Shaw appreciates increasing-
ly keenly the threat to his position of the
energetic teenager, Brandon Williams.
Maybe he has a manager in Solskjaer
who fills him with more belief than José
Mourinho did; Shaw is the type of
player who responds more to encour-
aging word than barked order. Still only
24, Shaw’s career has been stop-start
since he moved from Southampton.
That horrendous break to his right leg
suffered against PSV Eindhoven in
2015, so bad he almost lost the limb,
inevitably took time to recover from.
The absences through injury, and
loss of form, are reflected in his
England record; Shaw has eight caps,
and three of those came while at
Southampton. His last appearance
came against Spain at Wembley two
years ago. Talk of a recall may be
premature but he is certainly in form in
a position where
England lack depth.
Shaw scored
United’s first after
33 minutes, creating
the opportunity with
a driving run from
left back. Jesse
Lingard and Fer-
nandes both had
their shots blocked
but the ball fell to
Shaw, whose strike
went down into
the ground, brushing
Lingard before
beating Kelle Roos in
the Derby goal. It
looked as if Lingard
was trying to claim it,
and the pair were
engaged in conversa-