It’s always nice to see a player benefit from the labours of his hard work. For one Manchester United man, all those hours spent on the training pitch have certainly paid off.
As reported by The Athletic a couple of months ago, as one member of Erik ten Hag’s Manchestre United squad stands out head and shoulders above some of his perennially underperforming team-mates, Diogo Dalot has devoted plenty of time to improving his crossing game this season.
And we are now seeing the results of exactly that. Like against Aston Villa back in February, it was Scott McTominay who benefitted from one of those increasingly pinpoint deliveries from the Portugal international.
Dalot’s whipped, first-time cross in that 2-1 win at Villa Park earned him comparisons with United legend David Beckham. There were shades of Kevin de Bruyne, meanwhile, about the way Dalot fizzed a tantalising ball between the Coventry goalkeeper and their backline, taking two or three players out of the game with one kick as McTominay took his tally to a career-best ten in all competitions.
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“It was only a matter of time until Coventry were going to get punished,” former Sky Blues forward Clinton Morrison told BBC Sport after Man United started the game in a very different manner to which they ended it.
“Diogo Dalot has been excellent for Man United, he whips the ball in and Scott McTominay taps it into an empty net.”
In truth, the warning signs were there. Even before Man United somehow managed to turn a 3-0 lead over a team sitting eighth in the Championship into a nervy, penalty shoot-out victory, Dalot had to make a superb backpost clearance to deny Mark Robins’ side an equaliser in the first-half of normal time.
“It was great defending by Diogo Dalot at the back post,” Morrison said.
The long-serving £19 million man was not the only player to keep Coventry out by the skin of their teeth, Andre Onana making what Morrison described as a ‘great save’ to keep out a Victor Torp piledriver at the death.
This was, once again, a United side bailed out by a couple of big moments from individual talents, at both ends of the pitch.
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“This should make Coventry hungry,” Morrison adds, United setting up an FA Cup final rematch with Manchester City which could quickly become something of a bloodbath unless performances improve quickly and substantially.
“(Coventry) went toe-to-toe with Man Utd, they have some big football matches in the Championship and they have to keep going and believing.”
Dalot and Onana – who also saved from Ben Sheaf and Callum O’Hare in the shoot-out – at least came out of the game with their reputations intact, which is more than can be said of some of their Manchester United team-mates. Onana now has three penalty saves in a Red Devils shirt. Finally, United have a goalkeeper who can be relied upon to pull of big stops from 12 yards.
Dalot, meanwhile, now has five assists in all competitions this season. More than double his tally from the whole of 2022/23.