Exclusive: Man Utd praised for ‘perfect’ cup final performance vs City as expert discusses Ten Hag’s future
Manchester United have been praised for their ‘perfect’ performance to beat rivals Manchester City in yesterday’s FA Cup final at Wembley.
The Red Devils have mostly had a pretty poor season, but at least ended the campaign with silverware thanks to a surprise 2-1 win over Man City, with Fabrizio Romano discussing the result and what it means for Erik ten Hag’s future in the latest edition of his exclusive Daily Briefing column for CaughtOffside.
Man Utd fans will be celebrating the result today, but there’ll still be plenty of uncertainty about what the future holds for Ten Hag, whose performance as manager at Old Trafford so far is likely to leave fans divided.
Even if the Dutch tactician has delivered a domestic trophy in each of his two seasons in charge of the club, there’s no doubt that this season’s 8th place finish is far from good enough, while the team were also very disappointing in the Champions League, finishing bottom of their group.
Romano is not yet sure what United will do with Ten Hag, as he played down reports that the former Ajax boss’ future had already been decided even before this impressive cup final victory.
Ten Hag and Man Utd – what happens next?
“Congratulations to Manchester United as they won the FA Cup final against rivals Manchester City. I was there at Wembley for this very special moment especially for the young goal-scorers Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, but also for many other players who showed great leadership and made it a perfect afternoon for Man United at Wembley,” Romano said.
“I thought it was an excellent performance by Man United, it was not easy at all but they were perfect on the day and I think deserved to lift the trophy. Man City were just not on their best day, probably tired after such a big effort to win the Premier League title.
“But it’s also an important moment for Erik ten Hag, who has won another trophy with United after also picking up the Carabao Cup last season, while the result also brings the Red Devils into the Europa League for next season. Still, it comes amid uncertainty around Ten Hag’s future, so what’s the situation?
“Firstly, Ten Hag was not happy with some of the media reports that he was already 100% out of Manchester United before even playing this game. He doesn’t understand how it’s possible to see rumours like this coming out before a cup final, it’s not respectful to his job.
“But also the reality is that United never communicated anything to Ten Hag – they never informed him of any decision to sack him, there hasn’t been any formal process yet. Behind the scenes at United, there have been some meetings with representatives of some managers who wanted to understand what is the situation with Ten Hag, so although United have started some of the process to find a new coach, they never decided what to do with Ten Hag.
“It remains an open situation and let’s see what happens after this special afternoon at Wembley, but at the same time I can confirm that United had conversations with representatives of managers to explore a potential new era without Ten Hag at the club.”
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