Manchester United and David Moyes have reached a new low, after crashing out of the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup against Sunderland last night.
The game itself was fairly open with Man United leading most of it 1-0. Due to a unique League Cup rule it went into extra-time and Sunderland found a late equalizer after a David De Gea mistake.
It looked like they already booked the final ticket, but Chicharito, who missed a clear chance to make it 2-0 earlier, scored the 2-1 to safe United into the penalties.
The shootout, however, was very poor with Darren Fletcher being the only United player to score. Despite also missing their first two penalties, Sunderland used United's lack of composure and will now play Manchester City at Wembley on March 2.
After the game, David Moyes admitted that his side didn’t play well and weren’t able to finish off the game.
"I'm disappointed, but we didn't play well enough to merit going through. They deserved it,” Moyes said after the game.
“But we had opportunities to score the second goal and put ourselves in a better position, but we didn’t do so.
“Tonight I thought, I should put some fresh players in and we got the goal in front, we just weren’t able to keep it at the end.
“We had good opportunities to finish it off, but we didn’t.
“We had to defend a few corners today, I don’t know how many shots Sunderland really had, but they were threatening us near the end, because they put on a lot of pressure.
“But to repeat myself, I didn’t think we played well enough in both halves to be comfortably winning it. That’s what we needed to do and we didn’t do that.”
His counterpart, Gus Poyet, who said before the match that Moyes has the most difficult job in the world, was seemingly happy with the unlikely turn-around and was full of praises for his goalkeeper, Vito Mannone.
“I don’t remember another game like this one.
“Normally, if you score in the last minute to go through, you don’t expect to concede after one or two minutes. And then, if you miss your first two penalties you don’t expect to win the game either.
“How we have done it, I think you need to ask Vito Mannone. Today he was the difference between the two sides.
“I think it’s a great night for a group of players and a group of fans who have been having a very difficult season.”
He disclosed that Mannone’s teammates and the coaching staff showed their appreciation when the keeper entered the dressing room and thanked his shot stopper for his special night.
“When Vito got in to the dressing room, the whole squad and staff started singing his name and there is no better feeling for a football player to get the recognition of his teammates and the staff.
“He looked half happy and half embarrassed, because it was a special night for him and have to thank him very much for that.
After hitting a new low, can Manchester United turn the tide and still finish the Premier League in the top four? Have your say in the comment section below.
