What Manchester United’s victory over Liverpool means for Erik ten Hag, writes OLIVER HOLT

It was a privilege being at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. A colorless March day when the rain got here and went in sudden showers was made wonderful by a soccer match despatched from the heavens, an FA Cup tie between two giants that made us keep in mind how a lot pleasure the sport can bequeath to those that like it.

Being there exaggerates the feelings, I suppose, however maybe as a result of there have been so many issues driving on the result and since it ebbed and flowed and since the end result was a shock and since it was two children who mixed for the Manchester United breakaway objective that gained it within the dying seconds, it felt like one of many best of all cup ties.

Old Trafford has seen some momentous events however of the United matches I’ve seen there within the final years, I’d put it in the identical bracket as United 3-0 Barcelona in a 1984 European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter last, United 1-0 Everton within the FA Cup quarter-final of 1983 and United 4-3 Real Madrid in a 2003 Champions League quarter-final.

Anyone who was fortunate sufficient to have been at a kind of matches got here out of them feeling as in the event that they have been strolling on air, both as a result of they have been a United supporter or simply as a result of they cherished the tumult and the chaos and the enjoyment of soccer and its potential to make individuals overlook and its potential to make individuals joyful.

On Sunday, I heard that within the guttural roars of the gang and noticed that within the face of that boy that the tv cameras picked out within the moments after Amad Diallo had clipped within the United winner within the 121st minute of an incredible recreation, his face creased with tears of surprise and exultation, not fairly in a position to consider the feelings it had unleashed in him.

So how a lot can a match like that change issues? It will at all times be remembered as one of many best FA Cup ties in historical past however how a lot energy will it have to change the future of the embattled United supervisor, Erik ten Hag? Can one match change the minds of males like United’s minority proprietor Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, who sat stony-faced within the administrators’ field for a lot of the sport?

If United had misplaced on Sunday, it’s exhausting to assume there was any likelihood Ten Hag would have lasted past the top of this season. United solely have an outdoor likelihood of constructing the highest 5 and qualifying for the Champions League. Elimination from the FA Cup would have meant their season was over. And, anyway, there’s a suspicion Ratcliffe and Brailsford might need a extra dynamic chief than Ten Hag anyway.

But there’s precedent for massive moments altering the course of historical past in soccer, and notably at United. Most famously, it occurred in January 1990 when the membership went into an FA Cup third-round tie at Nottingham Forest with the suggestion that Sir Alex Ferguson can be sacked in the event that they misplaced.

United had completed 11th the season earlier than. They had been annihilated 5-1 by Manchester City at Maine Road a couple of months earlier and banners at Old Trafford had berated the supervisor and bade him farewell. Many supporters had given up on him. ‘Ta Ra Fergie,’ one signal mentioned.

But United beat Forest 1-0. Mark Robins scored the winner and, despite the fact that United solely gained two of their subsequent 9 league video games and completed 13th, they went on to win the FA Cup that yr and the European Cup Winners’ Cup the next yr and the ball was rolling and the remainder is historical past.

Can that occur to Ten Hag? Can that victory over Liverpool actually be a turning level for him and the membership after the last decade of turmoil since Ferguson left? Can it’s the second that saves him, the sport that adjustments the whole lot, the sport that throws him a lifeline in the identical means that profitable at Forest threw a lifeline to Ferguson?

The chilly, exhausting reply is that it in all probability cannot. it’s one factor for a United supporter or a impartial lover of the sport to be swayed by being at a match just like the one which unfolded on Sunday however Ratcliffe and Brailsford are dispassionate businessmen who don’t make choices on the spur of the second.

The FA Cup nonetheless has nice significance for many people however its place within the soccer firmament has undoubtedly fallen within the final 30 years. In the 80s and maybe even the early 90s, profitable it nonetheless carried a lot of the identical kudos as profitable the league, which was why it helped save Fergie.

Winning the FA Cup is just not transformative any extra. Louis van Gaal gained the FA Cup for United in 2016 and was sacked the following day. It continues to be an necessary trophy however the hierarchy at United might not take into account it as necessary as ending fourth or fifth, if that’s what it takes to qualify for subsequent season’s Champions League.

The actuality is {that a} run of league wins that sees United climb up the desk above Spurs or Aston Villa, or each, is extra prone to save Ten Hag’s job than a memorable win in an FA Cup quarter-final. United might properly beat Coventry – managed by Robins – within the semi-final however, let’s face it, they are going to in all probability lose to Manchester City within the last.

And then, in that chilly gentle, an emotional victory in March will depend for little until the weeks forward deliver the sort of victories within the league that recommend not solely can United make the highest 4 this season however that they will trend a title problem subsequent season.

Thus far, there was nothing to recommend that United are closing the hole on City or Liverpool or Arsenal within the league. They are also-rans. In that context, it’s in all probability extra necessary for Ten Hag’s future that United beat Liverpool within the league at the start of subsequent month than the end result they secured within the FA Cup.

It can be attainable that Ratcliffe and Brailsford have already made up their minds to make a change and that Sunday’s win over Liverpool was too little, too late.

Ten Hag’s downside is that he’s working out of time to show that the nook has turned. Yes, Sunday was a recreation that may reside lengthy within the reminiscence however there have been false dawns earlier than within the years since Sir Alex left. Remember the Champions League win at PSG below Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019?

United are again, everybody mentioned then. But they weren’t.

Modern twist on Macbeth an ode to Scotland’s Euros marketing campaign

To the Oxford Playhouse final week to see the English Touring Theatre manufacturing of Macbeth. Brilliantly acted and imaginatively staged, it featured a couple of nods to trendy life together with a scene, after Malcolm has fled Scotland, when the actor takes the microphone for a spot of karaoke and sings ‘Yes, sir, I can boogie.’ 

There was, inevitably, some spluttering concerning the desecration of Shakespeare’s work within the aftermath and outraged puzzlement concerning the selection of tune. But we joyful few who’ve adopted each step of Scotland’s journey to Euro 2024 felt very a lot within the know.

Ben White’s England snub is greatest for all involved

I did not see any motive to be indignant with Arsenal defender Ben White about not desirous to play for England on the Euros this summer season. I’m glad he was trustworthy about it. He is a tremendous footballer however it was clear from his early departure from the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 that he doesn’t discover match life straightforward so why danger the identical factor occurring once more in Germany? 

White not being out there for choice is the fitting determination for him and the fitting determination for Gareth Southgate and this England squad. It needn’t make the participant somebody to be pilloried.

‘Tragedy chanting’ stays an island of disgust and revulsion 

I did not hear the ‘tragedy chanting’ that referenced the lack of life at Hillsborough and Heysel throughout Liverpool’s FA Cup tie in opposition to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. I’m glad I did not hear it. It’s a blight on the fashionable recreation, an island of disgust and revulsion throughout an event that was, in any other case, a celebration of the enjoyment of soccer.

Jurgen Klopp is an efficient man who want a relaxation

Jurgen Klopp has mentioned he’s leaving Liverpool as a result of he’s working low on vitality. It is clear that he has determined he wants a break from the relentless stress and the all-consuming dedication that comes with doing the job the best way he does it. 

So possibly we should not be stunned when he snaps at a reporter for asking an innocuous query, as he did after Sunday’s match at Old Trafford. 

Klopp’s a great man. He’s somebody who makes others be ok with themselves, too. So, in a small means, his response to that reporter was simply a part of the proof you might want to inform you the person wants a relaxation.