Erik ten Hag argued that his efforts to revive Manchester United were on track and that the club would be losing a serial winner if they were to dismiss him after defeating Manchester City 2-1 in the FA Cup final.
Goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo secured a 13th FA Cup for United and the under-fire manager challenged Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the team leading football operations at United to sack him at their peril.
“If they don’t want me I go somewhere else and I do what I do my whole manager career: winning trophies and having success,” Ten Hag said.
After what was Ten Hag’s finest hour during his two-year tenure thus far, Ratcliffe, whose Ineos group control United’s football department, refused to offer his backing of the current manager when asked by reporters. The partial owner’s statement on the victory failed to acknowledge or namecheck Ten Hag.
“It is a glorious feeling to win the FA Cup final at Wembley. Manchester United clearly were not favourites to win today but they played with total commitment and skill and overcame one of the great teams in football,” he said. “We are all very proud of the players and the staff who work tirelessly for the team.”
This was Ten Hag’s second trophy success in two seasons after winning the Carabao Cup final last term and his tactics nullified City with a compact midfield proving difficult to break down.
United thrived on the counter-attack to beat the heavy favourites, who were looking to claim back-to-back domestic doubles for the first time in English football. Ten Hag said it demonstrated the progress his team are making.
“We are in a project and we are exactly where we want to be,” Ten Hag said. “When I took over Man United it was a mess and we are on our way to constructing a team. What you see is that the team is developing, the team is winning and the team is also playing to an identity.
“But you need the players to be available and you need a very good squad. There is a sill a lot of work to do. We have value in the squad. We have high potential in the squad and we are winning trophies. Two trophies and three finals in two years is not bad.”
'My gameplan was not good enough'
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola took full responsibility for City’s defeat, claiming he got his gameplan wrong and insisted their Premier League title celebrations had no impact on their performance.
The City manager dropped winger Jeremy Doku in favour of bringing in midfielder Mateo Kovacic, but his plan was abandoned at half-time when he sent on the Belgian, who scored a late consolation goal.
“For my decisions we were not in the right positions to attack them,” Guardiola said. “My mistake, my gameplan was not good.
“The players know the reason why. Tactically, it was not good. I was not good today. You plan a game for different positions but it didn’t work. Even with that, we arrive two or three times in the final third and byline and made nothing from crosses.
“They made one goal from one shot and the goal from Mainoo and no more than that. Always when we play against United, we have the control and we created in the second half but we were not able to do it.”
City’s players celebrated into the early hours on Monday after winning a record fourth league title in a row the previous day. But Guardiola was adamant the partying had no bearing on his side’s display at Wembley.
“No, completely the opposite, they were completely focused and how they reacted after was so good,” he said.
Kyle Walker, the City captain, echoed his manager’s sentiments. “No — we celebrated on Sunday, this is Saturday. It’s six days," he said. "If us athletes can’t recover in six days we’ve got no chance for everyone.
“We had to take that moment on Sunday because if we’re celebrating now on a downer it won’t feel right. The moment was right, the club, the players and staff made that decision. Let’s not blame that. It’s down to us as players who played that 97 minutes.”
Walker also brushed aside Guardiola’s claims he got his tactics wrong. “He’s the last man I’m going to question on tactics because he’s a genius for what he’s done," he said.
“For the years I’ve been here, he’s transformed me as a player, how he’s transformed some of the players in there. If he says that it’s down to him, for me it’s the whole squad. We’ve got 97 minutes to win a game of football. We all take accountability.”
