Where has this Manchester United team been all season?
That’s the question you must ask after seeing such a magnificent performance from Erik ten Hag’s team to win the FA Cup final on Saturday.
For much of this campaign, they have lacked the kind of resilience, desire, discipline and work rate that United demonstrated to beat Manchester City at Wembley.
I saw a team out there with all the players on the same page, everyone battling and fighting each other, not only showing a lot of skill, but showing a desire to win every tackle.
As I said to Lt Hag when he spoke to us on the pitch after the game, that hasn’t always been the case when I’ve watched United this season. If they had played like that every week, they wouldn’t have finished eighth in the Premier League.
Ten Hag attributes his team’s poor performance to injuries, but every team has had plenty of them this season.
I know United have been particularly hit at the back, where they have used 15 different midfield partnerships in 52 games in 2023-24, but there is more to it than that.
Even when a team has no injured players, they still have to come out and give everything, but there were many occasions when there was not the right body language or attitude from the United players, which is why they were sometimes criticized for a lack of effort.
But not on Saturday. They were almost perfect, even when things got tough in the second half. They stuck together and got through it because they did the dirty work as well as the nice things very well.
United players need to produce this every week
I said before the game that this was a great chance for United to give something back to their fans at the end of a poor season, and they certainly did that.
They were the best team, they deserved to win and the result was no coincidence. Ten Hag nailed his game plan and his players executed it perfectly.
United were right from the start. They didn’t allow City to play their normal game, they didn’t reveal anything, they closed them down and forced them to make mistakes. Then, when they could, they hit the counterattack and the way they changed the game when they did that, especially in the first half, was excellent.
We don’t know if Ten Hag will still be Manchester United manager next season, but whoever is in charge, the important thing is that the players need to produce this kind of effort and togetherness week in, week out. They can’t just save it for the bigger occasions.
You could feel Ten Hag’s frustration at being repeatedly asked about his future and whether this would be his final game.
It was a constant in the preparation, especially this week and even before the game started.
On the morning of the most important game of the season for him and his team, he was constantly asked about his future, or rather the speculation that his future had been decided and someone else was getting his job.
This may very well be the case. But, as I said before the final, from a human point of view, it is disrespectful for the club’s owners to treat someone in this way who, at the very least, is giving his all to his job and has now won two trophies in two seasons.
It’s not that he didn’t give everything to try to change things.
If United had kept Lt Hag, I’m sure they would have said that at some point before the FA Cup final. Instead, the silence has been deafening, and I think that’s quite telling.
At the same time, I understand why Ten Hag’s future is in doubt given how bad much of this season has been.
Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world and it is not acceptable for them to finish eighth or leave the Champions League in the group stage as they did.
When we look at their defensive statistics and the number of shots they face per game – with an average of 17.6, only Sheffield United have faced more of the 96 clubs in the top divisions of Europe’s top five leagues – then we can see that they are miles away from where they need to be consistently.
This performance gives their fans something to celebrate at least, but we don’t know what will happen next for United, and whether this is the start of something bigger or just the end for Ten Hag. If the latter, then what a way to sign.
City are still the team to beat
In contrast to the uncertainty surrounding United, we know that Pep Guardiola will be back to try and win more trophies with City next season.
I didn’t agree with Pep’s comments after the game that City were the better team on Saturday, because they weren’t. They didn’t play well at all and were well below their best – and the best team won.
City had another excellent season, doing what no English team has ever done in the 136-year history of league football in this country, winning four consecutive top-flight titles.
They will also display the Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, as well as the Premier League trophy, at their parade in Manchester on Sunday, but there will obviously be a touch of disappointment that they have not kept control of the FA Cup. too, especially after the way they lost this game.
We don’t say this very often, but virtually all of their attacking stars were quiet against United. Jeremy Doku was their best player when he came on in the second half, but no one else really impressed me at City.
It goes to show that even the best teams and players have bad days because they simply didn’t play well – although we must give United a lot of credit for stifling them.
Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.
