Carabao Cup

MANCHESTER UNITED will refuse Dean Henderson permission to face them in their two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.Henderson is on loan at the City Ground from Old Trafford.
Dean Henderson will not be allowed to face his parent club Man UtdCredit: PA
Premier League rules barred him from facing his parent club last month as Forest went down 3-0, with Wayne Hennessey deputising in goal.
There are no such rules in the Carabao Cup – providing the club that holds his registration grants permission.
However, United are not prepared to do that despite Forest boss Steve Cooper hinting after Henderson’s penalty shoot-out heroics in the quarter-final that he would look into it.
Cooper said after the game: “I’m unsure about that, but if there is (a chance), then obviously it’s something we will look into the possibility of pursuing.

“But it’s all just talk at the minute, I guess.”
Henderson, 25, was the hero as Forest got past Wolves to book their place in the semi-finals.
He made crucial stops during the game which finished 1-1 and then saved two spot kicks in the shoot-out as his team triumphed 4-3.
The draw for the next round was made immediately after the game with Forest drawn out to play Man Utd and Newcastle will face Southampton.
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Henderson joined the Red Devils’ academy as a 14-year-old and he has had loan spells at five different clubs, most notably Sheffield United during two seasons from 2018 to 2020.
He returned to Old Trafford in August 2020 and was added to the first-team squad signing a new five-year deal.
He broke into the side that following campaign, going on to make 13 league appearances and he was then expected to start last season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But Covid ruled him out and David de Gea consequently began the campaign and kept his place.
Henderson told the club in the summer he wanted to move on loan before Erik ten Hag walked through the door as he was not prepared to be second choice to De Gea anymore.
Henderson said: “I didn’t want the manager to come in and be able to see me in training. I knew he’d probably want to keep me.
“I told all the hierarchy I need to go and play football, I don’t want to be here playing second fiddle.” More

MANCHESTER CITY broke an unwanted record after 275 matches as they crashed out of the Carabao Cup.Pep Guardiola’s side were dumped out as they lost 2-0 to Southampton.
Not even Erling Haaland could manage a shot on target against SouthamptonCredit: Getty
Pep Guardiola was left frustrated as Man City exited the Carabao CupCredit: Rex
It is the first time in 16 ties Guardiola has lost a domestic cup quarter-final in his managerial career.
And the performance on the St Mary’s pitch was one of the worst by a City team in his entire Etihad reign with Jamie Redknapp slamming it as “diabolical”.
That was summed up by Manchester City’s failure to have a single shot on target in the match.
Opta stats prove that is the first time the Citizens have been unable to muster a single effort on target since a Champions League match against Liverpool way back on April 4, 2018 – nearly five years ago.
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Last night’s game was their 275th match since that painful 3-0 defeat at Anfield.
To add insult to injury, the away side – who were aiming to win the Carabao Cup for the fifth time in six years – were penalised for two foul throws.
Guardiola said: “The better team won. We didn’t play good, we didn’t play well in the beginning.
“Today was a bad night, the opponent was better so we have to congratulate them.
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“To win games you have to deserve it and tonight we didn’t deserve it.”
Guardiola did name a weakened team to play Southampton.
He probably hoped his second-string XI would have enough firepower to beat the Premier League’s basement boys and rest his superstars for Saturday’s Manchester derby.
However, the Spaniard brought on Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri from the bench to try and rescue the tie after falling 2-0 down within 28 minutes.
It did not work, though, as Haaland failed to connect with a late header on what turned out to be a comfortable night for Gavin Bazunu – and instead the Norwegian striker was taunted as a “s*** Rickie Lambert” by witty Saints fans. More

SOUTHAMPTON fans trolled Erling Haaland with a brutal chant as their side knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup.Saints supporters were in the mood to party thanks to first-half goals from Sekou Mara and Moussa Djenepo.
Erling Haaland was taunted by Southampton fans during the Carabao Cup clashCredit: Getty
Ten minutes after half-time with his side still trailing 2-0, Pep Guardiola turned to his goal machine Haaland to try and rescue the quarter-final tie.
But Haaland failed to come close as the eight-time winners did not manage a single shot on target across the entire match in the shock early exit.
It was just the sixth time in his City career the Norwegian had not scored – with his tally now 27 goals in 22 competitive appearances this season as he prepares to face Manchester United in the derby on Saturday.
But joyous Southampton supporters – who will see their side take on Newcastle in the semi-finals – could not resist the cheeky jibes as they basked in the 2-0 lead.
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Fans chanted: “You’re just a s*** Rickie Lambert,” at Haaland as he strolled around the St Mary’s pitch.
And the hilarious gag went down a storm on social media.
One said: “Chants of ‘you’re just a s*** Rickie Lambert’ to Haaland, an absolute highlight of the season so far. Brilliant.”
Another wrote: “Southampton fans singing ‘you’re just a s*** Rickie Lambert’ to Haaland… Come on be realistic, he’s not quite reached that level yet.”
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And a third joked: “Haaland probably wondering what a Rickie Lambert is.”
Lambert, another big, tall and powerful striker, is still adored by the Saints faithful for his heroics across five years with the club which saw him crowned player of the season twice.

The Merseyside-born ace joined from Bristol Rovers in 2009 and his goals helped fire the club from League One to the Premier League with back-to-back promotions.
Lambert, 40, left for boyhood club Liverpool in 2014 with a fine record of 117 goals in 235 Southampton games but struggled to replicate that return in his one season at Anfield.
In fact, after departing St Mary’s, the 11-cap England only scored eight more goals in his career before retiring in 2017 – three at Liverpool, one for West Brom and four for Cardiff.
Rickie Lambert enjoyed five superb seasons at St Mary’sCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Saints stunned Manchester City to advance to the Carabao Cup semisCredit: Getty More

PEP GUARDIOLA warned he had some “ridiculous ideas” up his sleeve for the Manchester derby on Saturday.If they are anything like the ones he employed here, he might want to rethink them.
Sekou Mara scored his first Southampton goalCredit: Getty
Moussa Djenepo curled in a second after spotting Stefan Ortega off his lineCredit: AFP
Pep Guardiola’s decision to field a weakened team backfiredCredit: Reuters
Guardiola is arguably the finest manager the Premier League has ever seen, though Red Devils’ supporters will no doubt quibble with that.
Yet he does have the capacity to make the odd tactical tweak that come across as curious, if you’re being kind, and downright weird, if you’re not.
Normally they happen in the Champions League but he chose to roll a few out in the Carabao Cup too.
The first was to play Kyle Walker at centre-back, despite Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake sitting on the bench.
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It backfired as the England right-back was caught out for Southampton’s first goal when youngster Sekou Mara ran across him and brilliantly fired in his first goal in English football.
Another was having back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega stand so far out of his goal.
Everyone knows City play mesmerising, possession-based football and their twinkle-toed man between the sticks plays a vital part in that.
Yet to have Ortega wander so far out of his box, as he did long before he was done by a stunning lob from Moussa Djenepo, seemed a gamble.
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The German stopper was in his box when Djenepo struck his first goal since March 2021 but still a fair way off his line, so always ran the risk of someone catching him out.
So it proved as Saints pulled off a huge shock, giving Guardiola plenty to stew over ahead of his side’s trip to Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime.
Take nothing away from Southampton though, they were outstanding.
They fought for every ball, they were tactically superb, defensively heroic and took their chances clinically.
It was the kind of performance that could give Nathan Jones’ tenure the jump-start it so badly needs after four straight league defeats which has left them rock bottom.
The gloomy mood around the club, prior to this victory, was summed up by the half-hearted applause when new signing Carlos ‘Charly’ Alvarez was paraded before kick-off.
Yet there were signs of life at the weekend as the South-Coast side came from behind to win at Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.
And they actually have a decent record against Guardiola’s City, drawing twice last season and winning 1-0 in July 2020.
City were limited to just one decent chance in the first half when Cole Palmer dispossessed Mohammed Salisu and teed up Ilkay Gundogan, who fired wide.
But then it was the Southampton show, starting with a fine effort from centre-back Duje Caleta-Car which had Ortega scrambling.
Che Adams ended a 29-game search for his first goal for the club when he netted a scorcher for that narrow victory over City during Project Restart three years ago.
Mara’s wait for his maiden Saints strike was not quite so long at 16 matches, having arrived from Bordeaux in the summer.
Yet the pure joy on his face as he smashed in Lyanco’s pinpoint cross at the near post, having escaped Walker, suggested it was worth the wait.
Animated Jones was kicking every ball on the touchline and high-fived Lyanco in celebration.
Self-deprecating fans taunted the champions with a chant of “How s*** must you be, we’re winning at home”.
But the belief grew around the ground the more their organised side put Guardiola’s on the back foot.
As Southampton went in for half-time to raucous applause, Guardiola knew something had to be done.
He took action with a triple substitution bringing on Akanji and Ake for Walker and Sergio Gomez in defence, as well as Kevin De Bruyne for Palmer.
When Julian Alvarez fired a decent opportunity wide of the far post, Guardiola went further as he replaced Jack Grealish for Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian had been set for a two-game break ahead of the Manchester derby having sat out the 4-0 drubbing of Chelsea in the FA Cup on Sunday.
But needs must, and Haaland was needed here.
All City’s subs were used up by the 62nd minute as Kalvin Phillips’ first start was ended and Rodri introduced.
Yet the nearest Haaland got to a 28th goal of the season was a half-chance which he hooked over.
City’s No9 was then serenaded by cheeky home chants of “You’re just a s*** Rickie Lambert”.
It was a night where nothing went right for City, who had won this competition six times in the last nine years.
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Though you could not help but feel some of it was self-inflicted.
Don’t be surprised if Guardiola resorts to tried and tested on Saturday in a bid to go from the ridiculous back to the sublime. More