Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka delivered a phenomenal second-half performance during the Carabao Cup final victory over Newcastle United.
The Red Devils ended their six-year trophy drought by beating the Magpies 2-0 at the Wembley Stadium. They were resolute at the back and restricted their opponents to just two shots on target.
Wan-Bissaka was one of the stand-out performers despite the fact that he was only introduced at the half-time interval as a replacement for Diogo Dalot at right-back.
Dalot had a nervy opening half against the pace and trickery of Allan Saint-Maximin, but the Frenchman barely posed a threat after the break with Wan-Bissaka’s introduction.
The 25-year-old was sensational with his one-on-one defending and clearly had the better of Saint-Maximin, who was eventually substituted by manager Eddie Howe.
Over 50 minutes, Wan-Bissaka had 32 touches. The former Crystal Palace star won a stunning eight duels and seven tackles while also making two crucial clearances.
Wan-Bissaka has had a fantastic career revival at United since the World Cup. Against the Magpies, he showed why he is one of the best defensive right-backs.
There has been much talk of him being replaced by an attack-minded option in the summer, but Ten Hag may have second thoughts after his display in the final.
In our opinion, both Dalot and Wan-Bissaka could fit into the manager’s plans as we saw today. Based on the match situation, Ten Hag could rotate between the duo.
While Dalot is much better going forward and cutting down on crosses, there are not many better than Wan-Bissaka when it comes to winning duels and tackles.
United ended a wait of 2104 days without a trophy by lifting the Carabao Cup and they will be aiming for more honours during the remainder of the campaign.
They are currently far off in the league with an eight-point gap to leaders Arsenal, but are definitely in the mix to go all the way in the FA Cup and Europa League.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com and Sofascore.com
