Carabao Cup
Keeper Kepa keeps Chelsea out of Carabao Cup 
Thomas Tuchel made one mistake. He brought on Chelsea’s specialist penalty goalkeeper.
Not only did Kepa Arrizabalaga not save one of Liverpool’s 11 efforts from the spot – the entire team put one past him – he then sent his own spot-kick, the 22nd of the match, into orbit halfway up the Liverpool end.
And so Jurgen Klopp and his players landed the first domestic trophy of the season, after vone of the finest goalless draws it is possible to have witnessed, which Chelsea shaded on good scoring chances, but could not finish.
Mason Mount missed two sitters, Christian Pulisic one and there were four goals disallowed – three for Chelsea, one for Liverpool. Left to their own devices the players then found the net 21 times before Arrizabalaga – who had been introduced with a minute of extra-time remaining, as Chelsea’s expert in the field – skied his effort to gift the spoils to Liverpool.
Tuchel had made the same move in the UEFA Super Cup final at the start of the season, with different results. The irony is that, until his late removal, Edouard Mendy, Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper, had been the best player on the field.
As for Arrizabalaga, it was here at Wembley where he had previously blotted his Chelsea career, refusing to be substituted in this match, when appearing to be injured. And it could well be his final act in a Chelsea shirt, with a move likely in the summer. Signed for a world record fee, it is no way to end his career in London.
Might Chelsea have taken the lead in extra time? It certainly looked so. Lukaku broke away, checked inside, then shot low past Kelleher.
Once the ball was in the next, the flag went up for offside. But was it? Replays seemed to suggest not. Yet referee Stuart Attwell got a signal to say the gods of VAR were satisfied.
The problem with this technology is that, increasingly, it seems to mean whatever the powers want it to mean. Havertz also scored in the second period of injury time, but that was offside in the way we would all define it.
The deadlock remained unbroken at the end of the second-half, too, but the spectacle remained undimmed. High tempo, high action, and chances at either end, Mount spurned another wonderful opportunity for Chelsea. Pulisic put him through and Liverpool’s back line was static, caught out, leaving him with only Kelleher to beat.
He slipped the ball past him only to see it hit the post. On the touchline, Tuchel fell to his knees and beat the ground in despair.
Then it was Liverpool’s turn. Another kicking error by Mendy saw the ball come back, Mane to Salah who was suddenly speeding towards goal.
He went for a delicate chip and somehow Silva sped past two team-mates to clear off the line. Where he derives the energy at his age, who knows?
Finally, a goal. In the 67th minute, Alexander-Arnold delivered a free-kick that was met by Mane at the far post.
He headed the ball down, it bounced up and Joel Matip got in front of Silva to head into an empty net. And then, as is the modern way, we waited. Something had turned up in forensics.
A push? An offside? Both? Stuart Attwell was summoned to the sidelines and, on review the signal beloved of killjoys everywhere. Van Dijk was just offside and while he hadn’t touched the ball had impeded his man, meaning Mane could make his run unchecked. No goal.
Chelsea also had one disallowed for offside but that required less explanation. Timo Werner. Nuff said.
Still there were chances at each end. Luis Diaz went through one on one and Mendy saved at his feet.
Then, a goalmouth scramble and as second double save, first from Diaz, then Robertson. Finally, in the fifth minute of injury time, Alonso got off a cross and Romelu Lukaku – on as a 73rd minute sub – almost scored with a deft flick, kept out by Kelleher’s legs.
If there was a tiny recess in Thomas Tuchel’s mind that was still deliberating his decision to prefer Edouard Mendy to Kepa Arrizabalaga it probably cleared on 30 minutes, when his first choice performed one of the saves of the season.
Naby Keita shot from a good 25 yards out and Mendy parried – that was a decent stop. Yet as the ball rebounded out, Sadio Mane came onto it first and tried to finish at the second attempt from close range. Somehow Mendy diverted it over the bar – and that was a quite brilliant save.
Jurgen Klopp kept faith with the goalkeeper that had got him here, Caolmhin Kelleher, with Alisson on the bench.
Yet Mendy’s instant elevation when Chelsea reached the Club World Cup final – he came directly from competing in the Africa Cup of Nations – suggests Tuchel is neither sentimental or indulgent of feelings.
August is not yet over, the season is only three games old, yet Manchester United find themselves at a familiar crossroads.
Ruben Amorim’s future as head coach is no longer whispered speculation—it is now the subject of his own public hints, with the international break looming as a possible inflexion point.
The bluntness of Amorim’s words after United’s humiliating exit at the hands of League Two side Grimsby Town was striking.
Defeat on penalties after clawing back from two goals down was bad enough, but the symbolism of being outworked and outfought by a rotated fourth-tier team cut deeper.
Amorim’s candour in interviews—telling ITV that “you’re not going to change 22 players again” and that “something has to change”—suggested a man weighing whether to walk away before being pushed.
The optics could hardly have been worse. Amorim trudged back onto the pitch at Blundell Park to the taunts of jubilant home supporters chanting “sacked in the morning.”
The narrow walkways, cramped dugouts, and fans heckling United’s £700m squad offered a setting that underscored how far the club’s prestige has slipped. Even Matthijs de Ligt resorted to sitting on the floor for lack of bench space, a scene that felt like parody.
Behind the scenes, the defeat complicates the delicate power structure reshaping Old Trafford. Chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, both hired from Manchester City to inject competence, now find their reputations bound to Amorim’s.
They must answer to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose firm grip on football matters means he will ultimately decide whether Amorim is worth persisting with. Ratcliffe admires Amorim’s directness, but admiration may not outweigh results.
Amorim’s frustrations are not new. As recently as pre-season, he admitted he had considered his position before recommitting to the project.
Optimism appeared to return over the summer, but the fragile unity has evaporated quickly. His repeated claim that the players “spoke loudly with their actions” was not so much a critique of effort as an indictment of systemic malaise.
The failings in Grimsby were not limited to individuals, though goalkeeper Andre Onana’s calamitous errors highlighted United’s lack of reliability at key moments. Amorim was quick to deflect blame from his keeper, but his remark that “this is a fourth-division team, Andre should play just with his feet” captured the gulf between expectations and reality.
That gulf is the essence of United’s crisis. The infrastructure brought in by Ratcliffe and Berrada is meant to harden the club’s soft underbelly, yet here were United bullied by Grimsby reserves. The culture Berrada spoke about instilling—courage, pride, and resilience—looked like empty rhetoric on a rain-soaked night in Cleethorpes.
Burnley visit Old Trafford on Saturday in what now feels like a precarious fixture. The two-week pause that follows gives space for reflection but also invites speculation. Amorim’s language has ensured that speculation will intensify, whether or not results improve immediately.
In that sense, the Portuguese coach has shifted the spotlight. By acknowledging so openly that “something has to change,” he has forced United’s hierarchy to show their hand.
Either they back him more firmly than ever—or they accelerate a search for alternatives. What is clear is that United’s season, just three games old, already carries the weight of existential questions.
Adapted from The New York Times
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Manchester United plumbed new depths as fourth-tier Grimsby Town knocked them out of the League Cup 12-11 on penalties after a 2-2 draw on a tumultuous night at Blundell Park on Wednesday.
Goals by Charles Vernam and former Manchester United youth player Tyrell Warren put the hosts in charge of the second-round tie by halftime against the six-time winners.
But after thunder and lightning and a torrential rain squall, United finally came to their senses with Bryan Mbeumo’s first goal for his new club offering them an escape route.
Grimsby defended their lead valiantly but Harry Maguire’s 89th-minute header sent the tie to penalties.
A nerve-shredding shootout that lasted 18 minutes saw Matheus Cunha have his effort saved when he had the chance to seal it for United. The next 15 penalties were all scored before Mbeumo struck the crossbar to send the home fans into delirium.
United manager Ruben Amorim watched the penalties hunkered down in the dugout and the Portuguese coach, who replaced Erik ten Hag last season, will now find himself under intense scrutiny after a horror show on the banks of the Humber River.
“I know that the best team won, the only team that was on the pitch, the best players lose,” a cryptic Amorim told Sky Sports. “I think that the team and the players spoke really loud today, so that’s it, we lost, the best team won.”
There were no such problems for the other Premier League sides in action with Brighton and Hove Albion winning 6-0 at Oxford United, Everton beating Mansfield Town 2-0 and Fulham overcoming second-tier Bristol City 2-0.
After picking up one point from their opening two Premier League games, this was supposed to be the night United got their season moving. Instead they suffered embarrassment in the fishing town and the sharks are now circling for Amorim.
BIG-MONEY SIGNINGS
Since being appointed he has taken 28 points from his first 29 Premier League games and steered United to their worst season since 1974. He has been backed in the transfer window with some big-money signings but on the evidence so far he is no closer to reversing the club’s decline.
Amorim gave a first start to 73 million pounds ($99 million) signing Benjamin Sesko and also included Kobbie Mainoo for his first appearance of the season while Andre Onana was back in goal after being left out for the first two games.
United were shambolic in the first half and Grimsby, unbeaten in League Two, deservedly went ahead in the 22nd minute when Darragh Burns picked out Vernam who calmly controlled the ball before rifling a shot that beat Onana at his near post.
Grimsby, facing United for the first time in 77 years, doubled their lead eight minutes later when Onana flapped at a cross and Warren tapped in the loose ball from close range.
Amorim sent on captain Bruno Fernandes and new signing Mbeumo after the break but his side were lucky not to be 3-0 down when the hosts had a goal by Cameron Gardner ruled out harshly for offside.
Mbeumo eventually injected some top-tier quality into United’s display with a silky low finish to set up a nervous finale for the hosts. And when Maguire, so often the scorer of vital goals for United, headed past Christy Pym in the 89th minute it seemed he had got his side out of jail.
Sesko could even have sealed it at the death after a goalmouth scramble.
Onana redeemed his earlier errors with a save from Clarke Oduor in the shoot-out but Brazilian Cunha had his abysmal spot kick saved by Christy Pym.
It seemed like the shootout could go on all night as kicks hit the net but while Grimsby’s players were ice cool, Mbeumo cracked, sending his effort against the crossbar.
“The way we started the game, without any intensity, any idea of pressure, we were completely lost, and it’s hard to explain,” Amorim said.
-Reuters
Carabao Cup – Second Round – Grimsby Town v Manchester United – Blundell Park, Grimsby, Britain – August 27, 2025 Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo looks dejected after he misses a penalty as Grimsby Town players celebrate after winning the shoot-out Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith.
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Tens of thousands of Newcastle United fans gathered in the city on Saturday to celebrate the club’s first domestic trophy in 70 years, with the streets turning a sea of black and white for the open-top bus parade.
Newcastle United Victory Parade – Newcastle, Britain – March 29, 2025 General view of Newcastle United fans during the victory parade REUTERS/Scott Heppel
About 150,000 people were expected to catch a glimpse of the League Cup that Newcastle lifted on March 16, after a 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the final at Wembley Stadium.
For manager Eddie Howe, Saturday’s event was an emotional moment as the city honoured him with a massive banner, unfurled outside St James’ Park.
“I can’t thank everyone enough, from Newcastle, the way they’ve embraced me and my family and I’m glad to have given them some joy,” he said atop the bus that carried the team around the city.
As the bus and crowd approached the Town Moor site, white smoke blanketed the area as the crowd sang Hey Jude, replacing ‘Jude’ with ‘Geordies’, and ABBA music was played over the speakers for a party expected to last long into the night.
-Reuters
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