Topics: Manchester United, FA Cup, Andre Onana, Jeff Stelling, Football
Jeff Stelling has claimed that one Manchester United star was lucky to stay on the pitch during their FA Cup semi-final match against Coventry City.
United survived an almighty scare to seal their place in May’s FA Cup final after beating Coventry on penalties.
The Premier League giants were 3-0 up with 20 minutes to play but allowed their Championship opponents to draw level in stoppage time.
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In the end, United came out winners after a tense penalty shootout, with goalkeeper Andre Onana saving one penalty.
However, according to former Soccer Saturday host Stelling, Onana should not have stayed on the pitch for the shootout.
He said on talkSPORT: “By the way, just one thing that never gets mentioned, gets overlooked, I just want to say Andre Onana shouldn’t have been on the field for the penalty shootout.
“He’s been given a yellow card after 85 minutes by Rob Jones. And what does he do? He goes behind his goal, picks up his water bottle, takes a drink of water.”
Stelling continued: “If Rob Jones had had any bottle, he’d have shown him another yellow card immediately because the goalkeeper was taking the mickey out of the referee.”
Speaking after the match, United boss Erik ten Hag said: “We have to improve. We talk a lot about this. First you have to put yourself in a winning position but then you have to take it over the line.
“In these moments we are making mistakes and not keeping our responsibilities. We have to show resilience. By the end we did show resilience and determination to win the shootout. When you are so in control you should win easy.”
He added: “We can't say this group doesn't have the right mentality because they showed character today, but in the final part there was a lack of discipline. We have to keep the ball, keep making passes, go for goal and then also be strong in defence. It's about communication and we have to improve on this.”
