Coventry city elected as the best team play in the FA cup by …
One might expect frenzied celebrations and tears of joy when a team secures its place in the final of one of the most historic competitions in world football, but that simply wasn’t the case for Manchester United on Sunday.
United’s players remained distinctly flat after beating second-tier side Coventry City on penalties in the FA Cup semifinals, after what sport journalist Luke Edwards called “the most humiliating victory I’ve seen for a long time.”
The Premier League giant had started the game well, racing into a 3-0 lead and seemingly wrapping the match up with less than an hour played.
But, as they have done throughout this turbulent season, things started to go very wrong for the 12-time FA Cup winner.
Coventry, which plays in the second division of English football, scored two goals in the space of 10 second-half minutes to pile the pressure in the closing stages at Wembley Stadium. And, as has been the case on multiple occasions for this team, the Reds couldn’t handle the heat.
Just like it did against Chelsea and Liverpool in the league earlier this month, United conceded a late penalty, which Coventry converted to send the tie into extra-time.
Then came yet more humiliation, as Coventry started to play far better than United, coming within a whisker of winning the match before a razor-thin offside decision ruled out a last-minute winner.
United subsequently secured victory via a penalty shootout, but the celebrations were muted after Rasmus Højlund scored the decisive spot-kick.
As the striker pumped his chest in front of the crowd, he perhaps expected the rest of his teammates to join him. But defender Harry Maguire instead turned to the Coventry players and immediately congratulated them on their performance, while many other of United’s stars stayed standing around the center circle.
The focus was more on Coventry and how it came close to what would have been one of the the most memorable FA Cup moments in the tournament’s storied history.
“There’s no way United can come out of that and say it is a good day for them. The only good thing about it was the result. Everything else exposed how soft they are, the lack of leadership and the lack of character,” Edwards told BBC’s Football Daily podcast.
“They took their foot off the gas and took Coventry too lightly – and nearly paid the ultimate price.
“They were on the ropes and a toenail VAR decision has spared them. They were 20 seconds from going out.”
Manchester United will go on to play Manchester City in the final, in a bid to win its first trophy of the season, but Sunday’s performance piled yet more pressure on manager Erik ten Hag.
‘You don’t know what you’re going to get’
The lack of leadership on display was what worried former United captain Roy Keane the most.
“We are having the same conversation every week about Manchester United,” pundit Keane told broadcaster ITV.
“You don’t know what you’re going to get. They’re inconsistent. They always play in moments … they give teams chances.
“I don’t see character in this group of players, I really don’t. I’m getting to the stage when I’m almost disliking them … ”
Ten Hag’s future at the club has come under scrutiny since British petrochemical billionaire Jim Ratcliffe purchased a 25% stake in the club this year, and perfomances like the most recent one will raise more concerns about the direction of the club under his control.
