United View: United scrape through to the FA Cup Final

It took a penalty shootout and a VAR intervention for Manchester United to earn their place in the FA Cup Final by the skin of their teeth after relenting a three-goal lead against Championship side Coventry City.

What should have been a routine victory, turned into a calamitous afternoon, despite the result.

With 20 minutes to play, United were three goals ahead, with two first-half goals from Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire followed by Bruno Fernandes’ deflected effort in the 58th minute. They should have then cruised to victory, but Coventry struck back three times to take the game to extra time.

Mark Robins’ side looked to have won the game in the final minute of extra time through Victor Torp, but an offside in the build-up granted United a lifeline, something they arguably didn’t deserve.

Andre Onana produced the heroics in the shootout making up for Casemiro’s missed penalty, saving one and embracing his inner Emi Martinez with some intimidation tactics. It wasn’t pretty and much to be joyous about, however, United did what they should have done and got through.

It was an unprecedented victory as even though United had won, there wasn’t much celebration from the Reds or the fans, who were perhaps embarrassed with how the game panned out.

One man who wasn’t embarrassed was Erik ten Hag, who said ‘It’s not an embarrassment it’s a huge achievement.’ He also added that his side has reached the final two years in a row but admitted that United ‘got away with it’ and his side was disappointed with the proceedings.

A lot has also been said about Antony’s reaction following the shootout win, whereby he reeled away cupping his ears. It was a complete misread of the mood and while it may have been blown out of proportion, he probably should have followed the lead of Harry Maguire by going over to offer his condolences.

Robins is famous in United folklore as the man deemed responsible for saving Sir Alex Ferguson’s job with an FA Cup goal against Nottingham Forrest in 1990. 34 years later, he could inadvertently be having an impact on the future of another Manchester United manager.

Ten Hag has been a polarising figure at the helm of Manchester United this season, with many (myself included) trying to provide context as to why things have been so poor this season, whether that be injuries or distractions off the pitch.

That being said, this feels like one of the lowest points in his tenure, which is asinine to say given United have just won, but this isn’t just a fluke result. Be it away to Copenhagen and Chelsea or at home to Galatasaray, throwing away results has been commonplace this season.

It gives Sir Jim Ratcliffe an almighty difficult decision to make ahead of next season. The 72-year-old ran the London Marathon before making an appearance at Wembley yet running 26 miles somehow seems more appealing than watching Manchester United right now.

Does the new co-owner stick with Ten Hag, who only has one year left on his current contract or try to find someone else to replace him in a lack of notable candidates?

Whether an FA Cup victory can be enough for Ten Hag to convince Ratcliffe and INEOS that he should be given the chance next season is unforeseen, but he has an almighty task of achieving that. United will have the chance to enact revenge on Manchester City following last season’s defeat in the Final, however, it’s just a small matter of actually beating Pep’s relentless team.