United might have won a penalty of their own moments later, when Fellaini’s close-range effort struck the diving Jagielka’s right arm, but Taylor did not see it and within minutes Everton were level.
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No one really knows right now if he’ll stay or go, but it seems like a 50/50 chance either way. Martial should have broken the deadlock after being played through on goal after 20 minutes but shanked his chance over the bar, though he was instrumental in the moment United did score shortly after. It is really important for us, the fans and the club. Stones said the FA Cup offers Everton a chance at redemption while admitting that the team have struggled in the Premier League this season, as they sit 11th with four games left.
Van Gaal was full of praise for his young forward Martial, although he believes he will continue to progress as a wide player rather than follow in the footsteps of United poachers like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Denis Law and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“I don’t think that he is a striker”, said Van Gaal.
“It was unbelievable. We were in the game, out of the game, and then we were in the game”. I told [Chris] Smalling he was a lucky guy because now we can smile! The match was played at Wembley Stadium, London, with 86,064 spectators in attendance.
-The Independent: “Everton manager Roberto Martinez has acknowledged that his position will be under serious threat if he fails to improve their fortunes in the next three matches”.
Victory at Wembley over one of the Premier League’s giants would be the ideal response and would bring some much-needed cheer to the club’s demoralised fans.
Louis van Gaal opted to play Rooney deep once again and it worked a treat, especially in the first half when the England skipper was running the show.
“The referees are deciding the game and not the players any more”. It was a fantastic finish.
“I think the penalty was OK, I don’t argue with that. He is a different striker to Van Nistelrooy or other strikers”, he said.
“Yesterday we had an exercise with penalties”. “I think we control a lot of the games at Old Trafford but we can sometimes find it hard to break teams down”. “Maybe you remember that?”
Graeme Le Saux @graemelesaux14: “This is one of the best/ worst Cup semi finals I’ve seen”.
And the clinical Martial made sure he would regret his wastefulness, with United booking a final date with either Watford or Crystal Palace.
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There was nothing he could do, however, about the goal United finally conceded in the 75th minute.
