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Evening Ticker: Manchester United crashes out of League Cup; Celtic unexpectedly out of UCL group; and more

Bayern Munich Manager Louis Van Gaal

By CAITLIN MURRAY

Tuesday was supposed to be a good day for Manchester United. With the acquisition of Angel Di Maria, things seemed to be moving into a positive direction for a club trying to regain its footing.

But then the second round of the Capital One Cup happened.

Manchester United suffered an astounding and embarrassing loss, 4-0, to third-division Milton Keynes Dons. For MK Dons, it was a thrilling upset in front of the largest crowd they’ve ever seen. But for United, it was a hapless performance that put their loss and draw to open the Premier League season in a worse light.

League One’s MK Dons took control of the match early, with Man United’s Jonny Evans punished for lackadaisical defending in the 25th minute, handing William Grigg an open shot for a goal.

Instead of turning the match around in the second half, United seemed to fall apart. Grigg added his second goal in the 63rd minute and then Benik Afobe, on loan from Arsenal, bagged his own brace with goals in the 70th and 84th minutes.

United Manager Louis van Gaal did not field his top starting XI, but his lineup did include such capable players as Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa and goalkeeper David De Gea.

Man United, four-time winners of the tournament, did not even land a shot on target until the 72nd minute against MK Dons, a club founded just 10 years ago.

Here are some more results from Tuesday:

CELTIC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HOPES DASHED IN LOSS TO MARIBOR

In another embarrassing knockout, Celtic is out of the UEFA Champion’s League tournament after NK Maribor eked out a 1-0 win on Tuesday. It marks Maribor’s first time to reach the group stage since 1999.

After a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the series, Celtic was knocked out Tuesday on a 2-1 aggregate to NK Maribor.

Marcos Tavares scored the game-winner with just 15 minutes left. The Celtic defense struggled to clear a cross from the left flank and the striker chipped a shot from eight yards over goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

Perhaps this time around wasn’t meant to be for Celtic, who won the European Cup in 1967. An administrative error by its previous opponent, after losing home and away to Legia Warsaw, was what allowed Celtic to advance.

QUICK KICKS

  • Premier League side West Ham United lost in penalties to third-tier Sheffield United, another upset for League Cup action Tuesday. (REPORT)
  • Shrewsbury Town shocked Leicester City, with the Premier League side falling 1-0 in the League Cup. (REPORT)
  • Led by a strong Hulk performance, Zenit St. Petersburg advanced to the group stage of UEFA Champion’s League with a win over Standard Liege, 3-0. (REPORT)
  • Porto also advanced in the UEFA Champions League, beating Lille 2-0. (REPORT)

Comments

  1. I think that Man U fans should demand that David Moyes be fired. Clearly this is his fault; he can’t handle more than a mid level team.

    Reply
    • ^ This made me smile and nod my head. Everyone said Moyes a very good coach would have to rehab his CV after this. No he doesnt. All he has to do is show the genius Van Gaals games. With more talent than Moyes had and how they are playing.

      Reply
    • I don’t see us winning it this year but we are not as bad as people would like us to be. The pieces are in place to create for us to challenge this year and then we can round up the squad over the course of the nest two windows and then talk about winning the Prem. We need quality in the midfield and at least two top center backs. That’s going to cost us lots of googooplexes, yes, but if we are not developing the kids (and today’s game clearly showed that) then it’s googooplex time.

      Reply
  2. As to Manchester United, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer club with nicer fans…hahahaha, the gift that just keeps giving! Moyes IN? Hopefully people are starting to realize that the Old Vampire planted the roots for years of failure, but he was smart to leave in time to keep his legacy intact.

    As to Celtic- FOOTBALL 1: UEFA 0! Justice served, but then, I would have loved to see, say, Bayern Munchen-Celtic 12:0 scoreline…Scottish football has been dead for decades, even centuries…I mean, I would rather get a root canal than sit through a game from the Scottish Mickey Mouse league: kick and run, atrocious first touch, zero creativity and technical skill…awful, simply awful…

    Reply
    • And here I thought you were only misinformed when it came to MLS. The current state of affairs at Man United have all to do with the Glazers refusal/inability to buy new talent, especially in the pathetic midfield (well let’s add defense to that as well). The writing was on the wall when they brought Scholes back, kept relying on Giggs and held on to Ferdinand for thee seasons to long in my book.

      SAF worked magic with crap (still don’t know how he did it) and Moyes inherited even more crap. The Glazers have found some money this year but I am not so sure it pays of this year. We’ll see. We need some iron in the middle and at least one experienced central defender that gets Van Gaals system. So far the kitty is going to offense.

      Reply
      • Oh and we need to buy talent because that crop that was turning over the ball today like a PDL team has no business wearing the shirt. Another example of how big clubs really are not in the business of developing young talent these days.

      • Always blaming the Glazers. What about Ed Woodward? There’s a reason MU panic-bought Marouane Fellaini for $4M more than they needed to. There’s a reason they panic-bought Angel Di Maria for an ungodly sum. There’s a reason why they bought Herrera a year after they could have. There’s a reason why they’ve known for a year that their two starting central defenders are leaving and no one was brought in to replace them. Those reasons have nothing to do with the Glazers.

      • Oh yes, yes it does. The clock goes well beyond those debacles you list. That was the late panic buying phase and while that was some of the dumbest piece of business I have witnessed this team had it’s problems well before that panic phase. They were winning titles, yes, but we kept holding on to and relying on aging stars. Chelsea and other teams were beating us to the punch for folks that we could use today – Obi Mikkel comes to mind.

        I agree that dumb panicky stuff has been happening lately but that is the result of poor moves well before we got here – poor moves that can be attributed to the Glazers.

        If we make one or two solid buys a year back in the glory days then we don’t do stupid panicky stuff like look desperate and bid on Cesc Fabregas 100 times only to have eventually land with a rival (I am surprised you missed that one).

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