Exclusive: O’Shea gives Man Utd little chance of FA Cup glory as City have ‘nightmare’ in their ranks

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18 October 2024, 20:16 yayınlandı

Man City may be unstoppable in their mission to complete a historic treble – with Man Utd the last team that can stop them in this Saturday’s FA Cup final.

That’s the verdict of former Man Utd defender John O’Shea, who spoke exclusively to Football365 ahead of the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final this weekend.

O’Shea was a part of United’s Premier League and Champions League double-winning side of 2008, yet he fears City’s class of 2023 have what it takes to eclipse that achievement and .

City will follow up by a Champions League final against Inter Milan in Istanbul a week later and O’Shea believes the momentum propelling Pep Guardiola’s side will be hard to stop.

“I’m a United man so I take no pleasure in seeing City doing so well, but I expect them to do the treble now,” O’Shea told Football365.

“They just have so much quality throughout the squad and it means that when one of their star men has a bad two, two or three more step up to replace him.

“It’s the depth of the City squad that makes them so tough to beat. They can bring on a player like Phil Foden from the bench and he has the quality to change it and that’s why they are so good.

“The Real Madrid semi-final in the Champions League was the game where the treble could have unravelled for City, but they hammered them in the second leg and look to be on their way now.

“You have to give them credit. They hunted Arsenal down quite comfortably and now they are looking to add the two cups.

“Anything could happen against United in the FA Cup final, but you would have to fancy them to finish the job from here.

“You look around their team and it is not just about Haaland and (Kevin) De Bruyne. A player who has stood out recently is Ilkay Gundogan and he has amazing qualities.

“Then you look around that team and it doesn’t seem to have too many weak links. The strength in depth of the squad is fantastic.

“That is the key difference between them and the rest of the teams in England at the moment and it looks like Europe as well.”

Erling Haaland, scorer of some goals

“Haaland is unusual in as much as he is a tall, powerful striker and he also has real pace. It’s a combination that is tough to stop,” he stated.

“Sometimes you get a big strong striker or a small quick one, but Haaland is matching defenders or getting one over them in every department. He’s a nightmare to deal with.

“Normally when you can cope with someone physically, you might be a bit quicker than him, but not with Haaland.

“All I would say about Haaland is a lot of teams have not really tried to come up with a plan to stop him.

“I’m not saying it will work, but I looked at the Real Madrid approach in the first leg of their match against City and they managed to keep him relatively quiet.”

O’Shea went on to suggest Ten Hag has put the foundations in for a successful reign at Man Utd, but this season has to be a starting point.

“You look at what Ten Hag inherited last summer and he has done a fantastic job to get them where they are now,” added O’Shea.

“They did well to finish sixth last year and now Ten Hag has them back in the Champions League, with a trophy already won in the League Cup.

“This is not what United need as they expect to be challenging for the Premier League and the Champions League, but Ten Hag deserves credit for a good first season. If he could add the FA Cup to his record, this would then become a very good first season.”