Glorious Wembley day gives Erik ten Hag two Manchester United regrets as he fights for future

Erik ten Hag won a second trophy as Man Utd manager after a stunning Wembley win against Man City in the FA Cup final.

Fifteen months ago Erik ten Hag danced with Lisandro Martinez on the Wembley pitch. This time their celebrations were more guttural.

When the final whistle blew on a sensational FA Cup final the Argentine centre-half grabbed the manager who has had such an impact on his career and screamed at him. After a year of frustration for both this was a day to savour.

A day that could have ended with Ten Hag getting the sack instead ended with him hoisting the FA Cup into the sky at a sun-lit Wembley. The roar that greeted that moment showed what the Manchester United matchgoing fans think of their Dutch manager.

It was a fitting moment to a season played under a cloud. Whether or not it is enough to save Ten Hag is another matter. His weekend began with more stories forecasting the end of his Old Trafford reign and although it ended with a trophy, it doesn't offer any guarantees.

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In the Royal Box, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Joel and Avram Glazer watched on with glee. Ratcliffe has finally seen the team he now controls win a game in 90 minutes. But if they decide to dispense of Ten Hag's services it will make for an awkward conversation now. Louis van Gaal will know the kind. It would be quite the narrative if United were to win the FA Cup and then sack their manager for the second time in a row.

But the cold analysis of the kind that billionaires specialise in suggests there is merit to that. United finished eighth in a 38-game season with a negative goal difference. It has, for the most part, been abysmal.

If the end does arrive Ten Hag will always have Wembley, but he will also have a sense of 'what if?'. What if more of these players had been available all season and what if he had made the kind of tactical compromises that came on Saturday earlier in the season?

This was Ten Hag's fifth Wembley date with United and in every one they have had the same dressing room and the same end. Ten Hag has stood in the same technical area for the highs and the lows.

Against Coventry five weeks ago he stood rooted to the spot in the very corner of that rectangle box when the Sky Blues looked to have won the game. Amid delirious celebrations, Ten Hag was frozen in time with his hands by his side. With the Championship side 4-3 up he knew he was gone, only for VAR to come to the rescue.

In the Wembley sunshine on Saturday, he hardly ever left that technical area but he enjoyed what he was seeing this time. After a quarter of an hour, he took his notepad out of his suit pocket and began jotting down some notes. "Good," would have sufficed.

After spending all of this season with a gap between defence and attack akin to the Grand Canyon, Ten Hag finally decided to close the space. It is the centre of the pitch where United have been exposed but under the arch, they were more compact. Out of possession, there was rarely more than 15 yards between the three lines and City were suffocated and stifled. Maybe Ten Hag was writing "should have done this sooner."

He has tried to defend United's habit of allowing the opposition to shoot at the United goal at will but it has always been a flawed tactic. If you buy enough tickets to the lottery your numbers will come up at some point. Across the two Premier League derbies this season City had 47 shots and should have probably scored more than the six goals they managed.

In the first 45 minutes at Wembley they had just three shots. United were compact from front to back, with the return of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez as a partnership vital, while Sofyan Amrabat, Kobbie Mainoo and Scott McTominay shut down the midfield. With Bruno Fernandes dropping in from his 'false nine' position United caused congestion centrally and it rattled City and allowed Ten Hag's team to get a foothold in the game.

If the first goal owed something to a stroke of luck, with Stefan Ortega and Josko Gvardiol laying it on a plate for Alejandro Garnacho, the second was a stunning team move. The switch of play from one wing to the other and the calmness of Fernandes to lay on the finish for Kobbie Mainoo, who was adding numbers to the attack, was exactly what Ten Hag wants from his team.

Down on the touchline he clenched both fists in delight. When Mainoo was penalised for a foul on the stroke of half-time Ten Hag jumped up and down in anger and remonstrated with the fourth official but the lead remained intact.

City's second-half revival was predictable, but United stood firm. They continued to clog up the space and the fact Andre Onana twice made good saves from Kyle Walker shots from distance showed the desperation that crept into City's play. United's moment of good fortune was when Erling Haaland smashed a shot against the bar.

Having collapsed in the final 20 minutes against Coventry, United appeared to be unflappable this time, but when Onana's mistake allowed Jeremy Doku to make it a nervous final 10 minutes, there would have been a sense of deja vu. This time they didn't throw it away.

Ten Hag waved his arms to get more out of the players and spent most of the seven added minutes in constant dialogue with Steve McClaren and Mitchell van der Gaag. When the end came the outpouring of emotion was clear to see.

Now Ten Hag waits to see if he has done enough to earn a third season.