David Moyes admitted Manchester United’s penalties were “terrible” as they crashed out of the Capital One Cup in a shootout against Sunderland.
The Black Cats are in their first major final for 22 years as, after losing 2-1 over 120 minutes at Old Trafford to set up a 3-3 aggregate score, they won 2-1 on penalties.
United’s Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones both missed the target while Adnan Januzaj and Rafael da Silva had spot kicks saved by Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone.
Only Darren Fletcher scored from 12 yards and manager Moyes said: “It went to penalties and our penalties were terrible.”
Moyes revealed the players themselves chose who would take the penalties but said that injuries were a reason why his preferred spot-kick takers did not step forward.
Michael Carrick came off with a twisted ankle — Moyes is unsure of the full extent of the midfielder’s problems — while Javier Hernandez hurt himself scoring United’s second goal.
Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Nani, who have all scored penalties in the past, were not in the 18 while Ryan Giggs and Ashley Young were unused substitutes.
And Moyes added: “We talked within the group and these were the players who chose to. As a team we made a decision together who would take the penalty kicks.
“Ideally, it wouldn’t have been the group we had. Chicharito [Hernandez] would have taken a penalty but was injured and people like Michael Carrick would have been involved.”
Moyes had few complaints about the outcome, saying: “We did not play well enough, we had the chances to put it to bed but didn’t. I was disappointed, but we did not play well enough in the end.”
The United manager refused to answer questions about the signing of Juan Mata or any other transfers.
Comments
Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPN’s media platforms. Learn more.
