It is approaching four years since the afternoon Manchester United left Sunderland without their expensive match-day suits after a burst sewage pipe in the away dressingroom season caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage.
That spill prompted the incineration of treasured personal possessions as well as clothes but at least United were well insured. David Moyes was protected by no such comforting insulation as any restorative properties contained in the wind whipping in from Sunderland’s North Sea beaches were thoroughly lost on his players.
United somehow lost to a team which has won only three Premier League matches all season. Their manager's sole consolation is that, in terms of the tie, it is only half-time and United have always been famed for their comebacks, for their wonderful powers of recovery. United can still reach the League Cup final, Moyes can still collect the first trophy of his managerial career. On this evidence, maybe not.
Half smiled
During his years in charge of Everton Moyes invariably tactically outwitted a series of Sunderland managers. Perhaps those happy memories explained the way he s half smiled to himself before taking his seat last night.
Seconds earlier there had been the warmest of handshakes for Gus Poyet.
Both men are struggling with dubious legacies. If the chalice Moyes inherited from Alex Ferguson was not exactly poisoned, his predecessor’s failure to sign a central midfielder for six seasons had left certain members of that department looking ominously past their sell by dates.
Ferguson tends to restrict his United watching to Old Trafford but talk of impending “crisis” following Sunday’s home FA Cup defeat to Swansea allied to an underwhelming Premier League campaign had brought the old knight to Wearside. With a hat protecting him from the damp, distinctly breezy northeast evening, Ferguson peered down on Moyes from the directors box, looking suspiciously like a potentially annoying back-seat driver.
It did not help that Moyes was steering a vehicle which last night resembled a surprisingly modest family saloon.
The Premier League's seventh place side were making heavy weather of opponents rooted to the bottom of the table but even if Danny Welbeck was displaying little of the irrepressible invention which characterised his spell on loan at Sunderland under Steve Bruce, almost imperceptibly United improved as Sunderland's early tempo faded.
Correctly disallowed
Unfortunately for Moyes, though, Adnan Januzaj's "goal" was correctly disallowed for offside against Ryan Giggs and the opening 45 minutes concluded with Sunderland a goal up. Two United old boys, Wes Brown and most notably Phil Bardsley played pivotal roles in provoking a Giggs own goal stemming from a poorly defended free-kick.
Moyes could have been forgiven for dressingroom anger. His defence should not have permitted Brown and another United old boy, John O'Shea, to make such nuisances of themselves at that dead ball. Happily for Nemanja Vidic, redemption was not long in coming, United's best centre half beginning the second half by out-leaping both Brown and O'Shea to head a corner beyond Vito Mannone.
Breathe again
Moyes could breathe again but like Sunderland, United rarely looked like scoring from play. The visitors' problem was they swiftly conceded from another set piece. When home substitute Adam Johnson won a penalty following Tom Cleverley's foolish challenge, Fabio Borini converted it, sending David de Gea the wrong way.
By the end, Moyes rocked back and forward in his dug-out seat, talking to himself. Surrounded by cohorts he looked utterly lonely. –
Guardian Service
