Man Utd are into the FA Cup final but their collapse against Coventry City was another dismal moment in a disastrous season.
The Coventry fans were enjoying a lusty rendition of "3-0 and you f**ked it up" when they had to break off to see if their team could turn a remarkable comeback into what might have been the greatest of all time. After Haji Wright's penalty had made it 3-3, Ellis Simms twice threatened to finish the job before full-time.
But so many of these failings are tactical as well. For 70 minutes Coventry had barely been in the game. All of a sudden gaps started to appear in the defence and the midfield was missing in action once more, regularly caught ahead of the ball even as they sought to protect a lead. There is a startling lack of game management in this side.
As soon as the ball hit the back of the net Dalot turned to Ten Hag and pointed in the direction of the technical area. His run had come from the central positions he regularly takes up when United are in possession and he went completely untracked. A few minutes later, exactly the same thing happened.
His positional changes regularly led to goals last season, usually via moving Rashford into the middle, but there were times when he would make an attacking change which would result in three players switching positions. Ten Hag explained this as a move to pose new problems, such as swapping a direct winger for someone who offered more control, like Bruno Fernandes.
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