Erik ten Hag the dreamer reaps reward for letting adrenaline run wild
All Michael Edwards could do was smile in utter disbelief. Old Trafford was treated to an epic encounter of structure versus chaos, the command of Jürgen Klopp against the apparent wishful thinking of Erik ten Hag, and the chaotic dreamers prevailed. For the data specialists and marginal gains obsessives sitting in the directors box at Manchester United, Liverpool’s FA Cup elimination was a pertinent reminder of the game’s ability to enthral thanks to the uncontrollables.
United answered their manager’s SOS call – save our season – with two defenders on the pitch throughout the second period of extra time. Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot were joined at left-back by Antony, who had salvaged the quarter-final with an impressive impact in his natural position in normal time only to be inexplicably shifted to full-back for the additional 30 minutes.
Ten Hag tried every attacking option available and a variety of formations too, ending a wonderful contest with something resembling 3-2-4-1 against Klopp’s tried and trusted 4-3-3. “I decided to go one-on-one at the back because I saw we were mentally strong and it would force us to go forward more,” he said.
After 90 minutes and 105 minutes the under-pressure United manager gave individual team talks while his Liverpool counterpart pulled his entire squad together and appealed for calm. It was United hearts and heads that were racing following Antony’s 87th-minute equaliser and Marcus Rashford’s glaring miss with the final kick of normal time.
Ten Hag saw no requirement to rein in the adrenaline. This was the rush that United, Old Trafford and his managerial reign desperately needed. And it all worked. The procession of attacking substitutions, including the matchwinner, Amad Diallo, who caught the wild mood by getting sent off while celebrating his decisive strike, the shape, the instructions and the spirit; it all paid off.
Legitimate questions remain about the quality of signings that United have made under Ten Hag but at Old Trafford on Sunday their character, resilience and determination could not be faulted. The final chance to win silverware in another troubled season was on the line. Perhaps the manager’s future, too. United gave everything for both.
For Edwards, the newly appointed chief executive of football for Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, it was a dramatic reintroduction to the world of frontline football. Edwards and Sir Dave Brailsford, chief sporting adviser to the United minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, were deep in conversation at the start of the second half. The pair are details men, charged with the sustaining levels at one club and restoring them at the other.
Edwards rejected United’s overtures to lead their football operations before accepting FSG’s broader offer to return to Anfield. Sat along from Sir Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush, he took a moment to absorb the noise from the 9,000 Liverpool fans present before kick off. By the end, with Liverpool’s established order and hopes of a quadruple shattered on the counterattack by Amad, the new chief executive of football gave a resigned smile as he tried to evaluate how Klopp’s team had lost. By running out of options in extra time, by failing to maintain control at the end of normal time and failing to land a killer blow in the second half, was the answer.
Klopp has made a habit of prompting United to turn back the clock and start all over again during his nine years in English football. From knocking Louis van Gaal’s team out of the Europa League with ease in his debut season, ending José Mourinho’s reign, exposing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s limitations in a 5-0 rout at Old Trafford and inflicting a 7-0 humiliation on Ten Hag’s side a week after their Carabao Cup triumph last season, the Liverpool manager has managed to undermine the authority of every permanent United manager he has faced.
Another chance presented itself with Liverpool leading in normal and extra time. For the first time this season, however, they were unable to find an answer. It was testament to United’s refusal to wilt and the chaos that Ten Hag let loose that they were unable to do so.
Liverpool’s intelligence brought them control over the quarter-final. The visitors faced an onslaught for the first 15 minutes as United, benefiting from a clear week’s preparation in contrast to their opponents, produced the kind of intense, aggressive and confident display that Liverpool are programmed to deliver. But they were in the ascendency long before Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah seemingly turned the tie in their favour after stopping at source the diagonal balls to Rashford and curbing Kobbie Mainoo’s influence in central midfield.
Amid the frenzy and the fury of the closing stages, however, Liverpool uncharacteristically lost their way. The mistakes that culminated in United’s third and fourth goals reflected a tired team that, for once, were affected by the circumstances around them.
Klopp’s reign will not end at Wembley after all. Having drawn Coventry in the semi-finals, Ten Hag will hope to find salvation there instead.