Ten Hag’s obituary was being written, then we got bedlam and weeping joy
IT had already been an epic encounter. The scores were locked at 3-3. The clock had ticked over into added time at the end of extra time of this tumultuous FA Cup quarter-final. Manchester United were defending. They were defending more than just Andre Onana’s goal. Way more.
They were defending their manager, Erik ten Hag, whose job was on the line. They were defending their pride and the history of a once proud club.
They were defending professional reputations against accusations not only that they are not good enough but that they do not care enough.
Liverpool, who were still clinging to the dream of winning a quadruple for their departing manager, Jurgen Klopp, had a corner. United cleared it and when Harvey Elliott dallied on it a little too long on the edge of the area, Amad Diallo stole the ball off him.
Diallo is 21. He is a young man who has seemed to be on the verge of giving up on his United career. But this might have been the moment when his life changed. The ball ran on to Alejandro Garnacho, a lad who never gives up, an island of optimism in what has been another miserable season at Old Trafford.
Garnacho set off like a greyhound for the Liverpool goal and Diallo, a bit-part player at United this season who had come on as an 85th-minute substitute, a kid whose career seemed to be going up a blind alley, sprinted alongside him, faced only with the back-pedalling Conor Bradley.
Old Trafford barely dared to hope. This season, like so many others since Alex Ferguson left, has been about United fans learning to take their medicine, swallowing hard, getting used to being outclassed by Manchester City and Liverpool, being the fall-guys for the triumphs of their most detested rivals, trying to put a brave face on defeat.
So much rested on this moment. If United did not progress to the semi-finals, the obituaries for Ten Hag as United manager were ready to be written. Their season hung on this moment. If it effectively ended here, then most expected that Ten Hag’s fate would be sealed and he would be out at the end of May.
Garnacho released the ball at the perfect moment. Diallo took it in his stride. Bradley halfexpected that Diallo would play it straight back to Garnacho but Diallo let it run across his body and that gave him precious space. He took it on a couple of steps and then stroked it across Caoimhin Kelleher and watched it roll into the bottom corner.
Bedlam. Absolute bedlam. English football has rarely seen a catharsis like this. So many years of frustration and loss and, yes, shame came pouring forth in a huge explosion of triumph. The home fans lost their minds. The cameras picked out children weeping with joy, the joy that only football like this can bring.
This was one for the ages. At a time when Premier League clubs are threatening the future of this famous old competition, this was one of the greatest FA Cup ties of all time. Even in the history of a stadium that the supporters call the Theatre of Dreams, there have not been too many moments like this.
United have not had much to cheer in the decade and more since Ferguson retired but this felt like their best moment in those years, better even than the trophies they have won. This was a game that had everything and somehow, they found the strength and the quality to win it. Dave Brailsford, new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe’s lieutenant, sat in the directors’ box like the Grim Reaper but if anything can buy clemency for Ten Hag, it was a game like this.
BECAUSE twice United went behind and twice they fought back and they fought back again and they would not die. Diallo was so overcome that he forgot he had already been booked and ripped off his shirt. When the celebrations had finally subsided, he was sent off. As the final seconds played out, he walked down the tunnel.
When the final whistle blew, the roar inside Old Trafford rent the air. Klopp, who was grace personified, wrapped Ten Hag in a hug and when he was released, Ten Hag punched the air like a man reprieved. Reprieved for how long, nobody knows and, right now, nobody cares. United drew Coventry City in the semi-finals. They are dreaming now of an FA Cup final and a season that might yet be rescued and a corner that might have been turned.
In a classic tie, it was United who drew first blood. They worked the ball well down their left flank and when Garnacho cut inside, Kelleher could only push his shot into the air. It looped up in a lazy arc and Scott McTominay, in for Casemiro, reacted first and rammed it over the line.
Two minutes before half-time, Liverpool equalised. When Jarell Quansah surged forward, Darwin Nunez found Alexis Mac Allister and his fierce drive took a deflection off the outstretched boot of Kobbie Mainoo, which took it beyond the reach of Onana.
A minute later, Joe Gomez dispossessed Bruno Fernandes near the corner flag and even though United appealed for a foul, play was allowed to continue. Gomez swung in a cross which found its way to Nunez and even though Onana produced a fine save, the ball fell at the feet of Salah, who swung his right foot at it and watched it go in off the post.
Fernandes compounded his sin of being dispossessed so cheaply by getting booked for dissent for complaining to the referee about the injustice of it all. Maybe he might care to reflect on the fact that if he had not gone to ground so easily, Liverpool would not have taken the lead.
In the second half, Liverpool took control. They played keepball, passing in and around Ten Hag’s increasingly frustrated players. Then, three minutes from time, when Liverpool appeared to be coasting towards victory, United conjured a goal out of nowhere. More specifically, it was scored by Antony, although too often in the last season Antony and nowhere have amounted to pretty much the same thing.
It was a fine finish by United’s £85million misfit, his first goal at
Old Trafford for more than a year. Surrounded by defenders, he managed to turn in the area and angle a shot past Kelleher into the corner. Even then, United almost managed to throw it away again when Onana became marooned on the edge of his area, trying to block Elliott’s shot. Elliott chipped the ball over him but it bounced away off the post.
Marcus Rashford should have won the match in the dying seconds of normal time. He ran on to a lovely chip, took the ball down with a fine first touch and then slid the ball past the onrushing Kelleher. But his shot went the wrong side of the post.
Rashford raised his face to the heavens and screamed out his anguish. United recovered quickly from that disappointment. They were the better team in the first period of extra time but at the end of it, Liverpool went back into the lead when Elliott’s shot deflected off Christian Eriksen, squirted through Harry Maguire’s legs and wrong-footed Onana.
United’s energy seemed to evaporate. Liverpool were dominant again suddenly but still United would not lie down. Eight minutes from the end, Nunez gave the ball away. McTominay strode forward and played the ball into the path of Rashford who advanced into the Liverpool area and swept it past Kelleher. Relief and exultation were both etched on his face. Old Trafford was agog. McTominay steered a shot just wide and the stadium began to prepare for penalties but they had reckoned without Garnacho and Diallo.
And then deliverance came. World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury had been in the directors’ box and for much of the afternoon, it seemed that if there was a bell ringing, it was not for him. When United went behind, it felt like the bell was tolling for United’s manager.
But then Ten Hag climbed up off the canvas.
MENTALITY and resilience have been the key themes underpinning Liverpool’s season. But this time, the Mentality Monsters malfunctioned.
Instead of fighting to the last second like they so often do, this was an utterly bizarre show of game management.
The Liverpool players could have few complaints about the result as they trudged back along the East Lancashire Road following this energy-zapping defeat. The squad will now jet across the world to start an international break with a tinge of regret.
‘We didn’t finish the game off,’ was the summary of Jurgen Klopp, who later stormed out of an interview with Norwegian TV.
He’s right — his team had this win in the bag twice. But lapses in concentration and sloppy mistakes led Liverpool to contrive to throw away what would have been a seismic step in their hunt for four trophies.
They had a lucky escape with one of the last kicks of regulation time when Marcus Rashford narrowly poked a shot wide after the defence was rocking from throwing away the win late on and were carved open too easily.
Rashford’s poor effort from point-blank range made one wonder if it was written in the stars for Klopp to conquer all he surveys in his Last Dance in English football.
But instead he finds himself with a big task to soothe the wounds of a bruising defeat by his team’s bitter rivals.
When Rashford finally did score, it came from a touch of inexperience from Darwin Nunez as he was cheaply robbed of possession in his own half. United’s winner was a great counter-attack but they were given the licence to roam with Klopp’s defence nowhere to be seen.
That goal came from a Liverpool corner. Yes, Klopp’s men should not be criticised for throwing men forward in search of late goals — it would be hypocritical to mark Liverpool down for something that led them to the 99thminute winner at Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago.
But the way Liverpool lost this match leaves Klopp with a big job to do in terms of rallying his troops ahead of big away trips to come in the Premier League, not least a return here to Old Trafford on April 7 and a Merseyside derby at Goodison Park yet to be rearranged.
‘We didn’t finish the game off, when you leave the door open, away from home at Old Trafford, it’s clear they would get chances,’ said Klopp. ‘It was really hard for us. That was the first time I really saw my team really struggling.’
Some fans would say the excuse of tiredness was redundant after Klopp fielded a line-up not too far from their strongest on Thursday against Sparta Prague, a tie they led 5-1 after the first leg.
It may feel like a bit of a stretch to criticise them but some players did look shattered here.
‘There was a time when they played one versus one at the back,’ said Klopp.
‘We should have used that better, but that’s the problem. The longer the game goes, the decision-making doesn’t get better, let me say it like that. They took the risk and we don’t use it properly.’
The German was referring to the fact that United’s defence in extra time resembled something you’d see on five-a-side pitches on a Tuesday night. Harry Maguire stayed back, mostly, then the rest was all a bit random, with Bruno Fernandes often covering.
Liverpool should have taken advantage of that. But they looked tired and it felt like, after clearing so many hurdles in a challenging few months with an injury crisis, this was perhaps one step too far. That will likely be the verdict of Klopp when the dust settles, too.
No one, not least him, expected Liverpool to be in the hunt for four trophies in mid-March. And so although this defeat will have angered him and left him full of regret, the manager knows that his team have the mental fortitude to bounce back.
His tenure on Merseyside will not end with a fairytale-like clean sweep of trophies but they are still in an extremely strong position to win a second Premier League crown and also add a Europa League to his glistening silverware cabinet.
Key midfielder Curtis Jones has been an underrated loss — he brings stability and calmness to central areas and would have been in the England squad had it not been for a recent injury.
He is expected to be back within the next fortnight, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota also hoping to return in early April.
So although this last-gasp defeat casts a sour note over Liverpool going into the international break, it is certainly not time to panic.