Manchester United are into the FA Cup final but there will be few supporters feeling all that positive after such a ridiculous collapse against Coventry City.
When United are leading a game 3-0 with 20 minutes to play, the expectation in years gone by has been that the job is done.
Yet with this United side, you can never really feel comfortable and Sunday proved exactly why.
United threw away a 3-0 lead against Championship side Coventry, going from having one foot in the final to being dragged through extra time.
Coventry even had a winning goal ruled out with seconds of extra time to play, with United somewhat fortunate to avoid defeat.
United got the job done on penalties but even the players on the pitch seemed withdrawn rather than jubilant upon reaching a second straight FA Cup final.
Yes, the win is great and United now have a cache to win a trophy, but the manner of the performance only serves to raise more questions about the future of Erik ten Hag.
Gary Neville on Ineos
The Dutchman enjoyed a promising first season at United but it’s clear that this season has been one of regression.
United’s performance levels have been well short of the mark for much of the season and Ten Hag now sits 16 points off the Champions League places.
Ten Hag is now left clinging onto his job and Ineos will be weighing up a change having already made some big additions.
Jason Wilcox is now on board as United’s new technical director having joined from Southampton whilst Manchester City’s Omar Berrada is coming in as CEO.
Add in an expected deal for Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth and United are really making big moves to spark a new era.
Gary Neville now believes that Ineos have sent a ‘clear message’ to everybody with their early work at United.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville admitted that he thinks that Ineos making so many moves early into their control of the club just sums up how much they dislike what they have found inside United.
Neville thinks that the early signs from Ineos suggest that a ‘turbulent’ few months are on the horizon, which could spell trouble for Ten Hag.
“If you think about what Ineos have done since they’ve come in, they’ve sent us all quite a clear message,” said Neville. “They’ve wiped out the whole top of the club. The whole lot, they’ve all gone and they’ve brought in three new people already.”
“Obviously, the manager and the players at the end of the season, the decision… we would always be waiting until then, but they’ve sent a clear message to everybody that they don’t like what they see and they didn’t like what they found. The reality of it is that it’s going to be an uncertain, turbulent few months for Manchester United, not just on the playing side but on the non-playing side as well because there’s going to be so much change there. They obviously don’t like it, or else they wouldn’t have changed CEO, sporting director, technical director – they’ve just swept everybody out,” he added.
Ineos finally doing what the Glazers should have done
United have fallen behind Premier League rivals for a number of reasons, but one of them is because the off-field structure hasn’t been up to scratch.
Other Premier League clubs have had experts of their craft leading the organisation and you only have to look at United’s biggest rivals for proof of that.
Txiki Begiristain at Manchester City and Michael Edwards at Liverpool have been masters of the transfer market in years gone by, finding great signings on a regular basis.
Both have lengthy experience in the game and their expertise has been vital to City and Liverpool’s success and the lack of such figures at United has certainly contributed to so much wasted money over the years.
Ineos now seem to be getting somewhere; Wilcox and Ashworth are experienced operators at Premier League level and know what success looks like.
The same goes for Berrada as he makes his move from City and this is what United needed; off-field expertise in key positions to drive success on the field.
Of course, they will still need to show their qualities at United, but putting together this team of football people is exactly what the Glazers should have done years ago; let’s just hope that it finally works out.