Manchester United have reached the FA Cup final for the second season in a row, which is a big achievement, as manager Erik ten Hag has said, but Coventry, who led the Championship by three goals, were tied by their opponents in 20 minutes, and almost lost in extra time before winning the final on penalties.
Ugly win or beautiful loss, which is better? Ten Hag has left people with a difficult myth.
The Reds themselves played with ease, with Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes scoring a goal each to give them a three-goal lead in the 58th minute, which they thought would be easy to win, but once again they suddenly collapsed, Coventry City scored in the 71st minute from Ellis Simms unattended in the box, and then Callum O'Hare hit Aaron O'Hare from distance. Aaron Wan-Bissaka netted in and in stoppage time the latter was unfortunate for handball, which Haji Wright converted to a 3-3 draw.
Ten Hag didn't seem to have much to do in extra time, with the two youngsters Amad Diallo and Omari Forson coming in with more energy but too much to do with the goal, and the other move was to push Maguire forward and use his height advantage to fight for the top in confusion, but it didn't do much for Coventry. Instead, Coventry were more threatening, with Ellis Sims hitting the post with a fierce shot from near goal and another counter-attacking when Victor Tolp latched on to Hadji Wright's clever pass and fired into the net, but VAR ruled that Hadji Wright was offside. In the end, the two sides won the penalty shootout, and Lady Luck favored the "Red Devils" this time.
Ten Hag couldn't understand the team's ability to go from an easy lead and then a sudden drop in performance: "When you control the game and dominate the situation, you should have taken it [to the end]. We can't do it well enough. It's hard to explain that we can play really well in the same game and then play poorly in the same game."
In fact, this battle is not an isolated case this season. Manchester United led 4 times this season, and then won and lost, losing 1-3 to Arsenal and Manchester City respectively, which can be said to be the difference in strength, but in the Champions League 2-3 defeat to Galatasaray and 3-4 defeat by Copenhagen, in fact, the situation is the same as today: first it was taken lightly by the opponent to recover a goal, and then began to collapse, although Coventry's second and third goals were a bit lucky, but it was also more Manchester United will be shocked and confused.
Former Manchester United legend Roy Keane said: "I don't like this Manchester United, they give up chances, they give up goals, it's been like that this season, it's just good luck. "Although the current captain Bruno Fernandes ran up and down the pitch and scored a goal this time, he did not have the momentum to hold the pitch, let alone like Liverpool's "fantastic captain" Gerrard, who can instantly boost the morale of the team. There is no leader on the field, and Ten Hag's inertia on the sidelines is deeply frowned, how can he stabilize the team's military spirit?
David De Gea was the Premier League Golden Glove winner last season, helping United keep the most clean sheets, but this season he was replaced by Andre Onana, but the defence has not improved, and together with this game, he has scored three or more goals in 14 times, the first time the team has scored three or more goals in the Premier League era, and the last time he scored three or more goals in a full season was in 1962-63, which was 61 years ago.
Of course, it is also true that Manchester United have been plagued by injuries in defence this season, with Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof, Evans and even rookie Willy Kambwala all suffering injuries, as well as left-backs Luke Shaw and Tierrell Malacia, so Ten Hag will have Brazilian defender Casemiro in the central defensive line-up this time.
Casemiro has a lot of experience, no doubt about the number of roads, and accurate long passes, this game has used long passes to create Rashford half a single shot, but the latter actually shot diagonally, however, he is a cameo after all, the sense of position is not comparable to a regular central defender, for example, the first goal conceded, is that he did not keep an eye on Ellis Simms, and he is not very fast, if the defense is pressing, he is not fast enough to chase the opponent's striker, and he was "forced" to win by Ellis Sims in extra time.
An FA Cup once saved Ferguson, but will an FA Cup be enough to keep Erik ten Hag's handsome mark for the next season? Ratcliffe, the new owner who went to see the FA Cup after running the London Marathon yesterday, may also think that the 71-year-old will feel that running a marathon is easier than the decision to change the coach.