Man United scrape past Coventry in incredible FA Cup semi-final but leave Wembley with ‘no credibility’
Manchester United survived an incredible comeback from Coventry City to win a sensational FA Cup semi-final on penalties.
The Premier League giants were given an almighty scare at Wembley on Sunday as the Championship side fought back from 3-0 down and then had a late extra-time winner disallowed for a marginal offside.
A thrilling contest ended 3-3 after 120 minutes and it was United who ultimately prevailed, 4-2 on spot-kicks, to set up a repeat of last year's final against rivals Manchester City.
Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire had put the Red Devils 2-0 up going into half-time, before Bruno Fernandes looked to have secured their spot in the FA Cup final with ease.
But Coventry, led by former Man United man Mark Robins, were not going to be beaten that easily and staged a remarkable comeback.
Ellis Simms got the comeback started, before Matt O'Hare's effort deflected off Aaron Wan-Bissaka to set up a nervy ending.
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Coventry pushed forward and got their reward in the fifth minute of injury time when Luis Binks' cross hit the arm of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, resulting in a penalty.
Haji Wright kept his composure in a high-stakes moment, sending Andre Onana the wrong way to take the tie to extra time.
Extra time was also filled with heaps of drama, with Bruno Fernandes hitting the woodwork, before Simms did the same for Coventry just four minutes from time.
Then with just just 30 seconds of extra-time left, Torp thought he had grabbed the winner to send Coventry through, only to see his effort ruled out by VAR for offside.
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The penalty shootout got off to the worst possible start for Man United, with Casemiro missing with the first spot-kick.
Onana later helped the Red Devils by saving O'Hare's penalty, with Fernandes striking to make it 3-2.
Ben Sheaf stepped up for Coventry and sent his penalty over the bar, before Rasmus Hojlund converted to see United into the final.
Despite the victory, Micky Gray told talkSPORT: "Man United come out of this game with no credibility."
The United players knew how lucky they had been, and barely celebrated their victory.
Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher were damning about their performance, which raised more questions over Erik ten Hag's future.
"I don't like what I see from this United team," Keane told ITV. "They are hard to like. They play in moments. We go on about leadership and character, but I don't see any of this from this United group.
"My goodness, they rode their luck at the end. The substitutions, the goal gave Coventry belief and all of a sudden they looked like a Premier League team in extra-time and United looked like a Championship team."
Carragher, meanwhile, said: "Mark Robins famously kept a Manchester United manager's job. I think that result today has just cost a Manchester United manager his job.
"I don't see how Erik ten Hag stays. It's just performance after performance. I would imagine that is probably the most-embarrassed dressing room of a team that has just won a big game. The players won't know whether to celebrate, they are probably all sat there looking at each other.
"What is it about Ten Hag that makes you think he's going to take Manchester United forward next season? I just don't see it."
Ten Hag insisted after the match he was not embarrassed but admitted United got away with it.
Ten Hag said: "I can't say that word (embarrassment) because, at the end of the day, it's about the achievement.
"I see the mistakes we make - we can't look away from it - but it's not an embarrassment. It's a huge achievement.
"Even the big team from United, a decade ago, only achieved the final three times. We now have two times in two years. So that's a good performance.
"I see we can play in very high levels but in the same match we can also go very low. That's not explainable. It has to do with managing the game.
"I have to teach my players, clearly. We have to do better in such occasions.
"On several occasions we've let the result slip away but today we got away with it."
Despite the heartbreaking manner of the loss, Sky Blues manager Mark Robins insisted there was no feeling of injustice.
The former United striker said: "If it's the right call, it's the right call. I think he was a toenail offside, which is disappointing. Had he cut his toenail, we wouldn't be talking about penalties.
"This FA Cup run will be spoken about, certainly in Coventry City circles, for a long, long time.
"Whilst I'm disappointed for everybody, we can't be too down about it. We've gone toe to toe with Manchester United, come back from 3-0 down and almost won it with a fourth, then lost it in a shoot-out, which can happen.
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"We performed like Manchester United for that last half-hour and that's what I'm most proud of.
"This club has been in the doldrums for so long but we're certainly out of that period. We've just got to keep moving it forward, which is why we won't feel sorry for ourselves."