There was a Manchester takeover in London at the weekend, as Man City and Man United fans flocked to Wembley for the FA Cup final.
Few would have backed United going into the game, it had so far been a season to forget and City had just charged to their fourth straight league title. There was a feeling City would need to have an off day and United would need to find a new level to stand a chance.
But that’s exactly what they did. Ten Hag’s team played with a determination and discipline that we’ve not really seen this season. It was how you would expect a team to show up in a final but still not what many expected from this Man United side.
We could see City looked slower in their build-up and creative play but Man Utd were tactically great with Fernandes playing as a striker who would drop into the midfield and use Garnacho and Rashford’s pace to attack the space behind City.
They worked like a team and fought hard, and in the end they were the better team. In football the better team doesn’t always win, results can go against the run of play and luck can impact things.
They did have a bit of luck for the first goal, a gift from a defensive mistake, but the second was a great goal from Mainoo and they did put the ball in the net just before that but it was ruled offside.
They went into the break 2-0 up and knew they were just 45 minutes away from lifting the Cup. The pressure was on and Man City did find a goal in the 87th minute to make the finish tense, after finding the tempo they had been looking for through Doku.
But United held on and stopped their rivals from becoming the first side to win back-to-back doubles.
There are still some big question marks around Ten Hag and his future at United. Their performances have not been great for much of the season, finishing 8th in the league and being knocked ut of the Champions League in the group stage is not what a big club like United would hope for. Time will tell what is next for Ten Hag and United but, this victory will taste sweet as it also secured a place in the Europa League.
Ten Hag’s future will depend on the club’s decision regardless of whether he would like to stay at the club for another season.