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 drab March day when the rain came and went in sudden showers was made glorious by a football match sent from the heavens, an FA Cup tie between two giants that made us remember how much joy the game can bequeath to those who love it.

Being there exaggerates the emotions, I suppose, but perhaps because there were so many things riding on the outcome and because it ebbed and flowed and because the result was a shock and because it was two kids who combined for the Manchester United breakaway goal that won it in the dying seconds, it felt like one of the greatest of all cup ties.

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

Anyone who was lucky enough to have been at one of those matches came out of them feeling as if they were walking on air, either because they were a United supporter or just because they loved the tumult and the chaos and the joy of football and its ability to make people forget and its ability to make people happy.

On Sunday, I heard that in the guttural roars of the crowd and saw that in the face of that boy that the television cameras picked out in the moments after Amad Diallo had clipped in the United winner in the 121st minute of an amazing game, his face creased with tears of wonder and exultation, not quite able to believe the emotions it had unleashed in him.

So how much can a match like that change things? It will always be remembered as one of the greatest FA Cup ties in history but how much power will it have to alter the destiny of the embattled United manager, Erik ten Hag? Can one match change the minds of men like United’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, who sat stony-faced in the directors’ box for much of the game?

If United had lost on Sunday, it is hard to think there was any chance Ten Hag would have lasted beyond the end of this season. United only have an outside chance of making the top five and qualifying for the Champions League. Elimination from the FA Cup would have meant their season was over. And, anyway, there is a suspicion Ratcliffe and Brailsford may want a more dynamic leader than Ten Hag anyway.

But there is precedent for big moments changing the course of history in football, and particularly at United. Most famously, it happened in January 1990 when the club went into an FA Cup third-round tie at Nottingham Forest with the suggestion that Sir Alex Ferguson would be sacked if they lost.

United had finished 11th the season before. They had been annihilated 5-1 by Manchester City at Maine Road a few months earlier and banners at Old Trafford had berated the manager and bade him farewell. Many supporters had given up on him. ‘Ta Ra Fergie,’ one sign said.

But United beat Forest 1-0. Mark Robins scored the winner and, even though United only won two of their next nine league games and finished 13th, they went on to win the FA Cup that year and the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following year and the ball was rolling and the rest is history.

Can that happen to Ten Hag? Can that victory over Liverpool really be a turning point for him and the club after the decade of turmoil since Ferguson left? Can it be the moment that saves him, the game that changes everything, the game that throws him a lifeline in the same way that winning at Forest threw a lifeline to Ferguson?

The cold, hard answer is that it probably can’t. it is one thing for a United supporter or a neutral lover of the game to be swayed by being at a match like the one that unfolded on Sunday but Ratcliffe and Brailsford are dispassionate businessmen who do not make decisions on the spur of the moment.

The FA Cup still has great significance for many of us but its position in the football firmament has undoubtedly fallen in the last 30 years. In the 80s and perhaps even the early 90s, winning it still carried much of the same kudos as winning the league, which was why it helped save Fergie.

Winning the FA Cup is not transformative any more. Louis van Gaal won the FA Cup for United in 2016 and was sacked the next day. It is still an important trophy but the hierarchy at United may not consider it as important as finishing fourth or fifth, if that is what it takes to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

The reality is that a run of league wins that sees United climb up the table above Spurs or Aston Villa, or both, is more likely to save Ten Hag’s job than a memorable win in an FA Cup quarter-final. United may well beat Coventry – managed by Robins – in the semi-final but, let’s face it, they will probably lose to Manchester City in the final.

And then, in that cold light, an emotional victory in March will count for little unless the weeks ahead bring the kind of victories in the league that suggest not only can United make the top four this season but that they can fashion a title challenge next season.

Thus far, there has been nothing to suggest that United are closing the gap on City or Liverpool or Arsenal in the league. They are also-rans. In that context, it is probably more important for Ten Hag’s future that United beat Liverpool in the league at the beginning of next month than the result they secured in the FA Cup.

It is also possible 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 problem is that he is running out of time to prove that the corner has turned. Yes, Sunday was a game that will live long in the memory but there have been false dawns before in the years since Sir Alex left. Remember the Champions League win at PSG under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019?

United are back, everyone said then. But they weren’t.

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

To the Oxford Playhouse last week to see the English Touring Theatre production of Macbeth. Brilliantly acted and imaginatively staged, it featured a few nods to modern life including 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 about the desecration of Shakespeare’s work in the aftermath and outraged puzzlement about the choice of song. But we happy few who have followed every step of Scotland’s journey to Euro 2024 felt very much in the know.

Ben White’s England snub is best for all concerned

I didn’t see any reason to be angry with Arsenal defender Ben White about not wanting to play for England at the Euros this summer. I’m glad he was honest about it. He is a fine footballer but it was clear from his early departure from the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 that he does not find tournament life easy so why risk the same thing happening again in Germany? 

White not being available for selection is the right decision for him and the right decision for Gareth Southgate and this England squad. It need not make the player someone to be pilloried.

‘Tragedy chanting’ remains an island of disgust and revulsion

I didn’t hear the ‘tragedy chanting’ that referenced the loss of life at Hillsborough and Heysel during Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. I’m glad I didn’t hear it. It’s a blight on the modern game, an island of disgust and revulsion during an occasion that was, otherwise, a celebration of the joy of football.

Jurgen Klopp is a good man who need a rest

Jurgen Klopp has said he is leaving Liverpool because he is running low on energy. It is obvious that he has decided he needs a break from the relentless stress and the all-consuming commitment that comes with doing the job the way he does it. 

So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised when he snaps at a reporter for asking an innocuous question, as he did after Sunday’s match at Old Trafford. 

Klopp’s a good man. He’s someone who makes others feel good about themselves, too. So, in a small way, his reaction to that reporter was just part of the evidence you need to tell you the man needs a rest.