Erik ten Hag has overseen a season of chaos at Manchester United. One Wembley wonder cannot hide that, writes IAN LADYMAN

Erik ten Hag walked out of Wembley with a wave and a smile and the look of a man who had proved a point. If this was to be his last stand then it was one with courage and defiance and real sporting spirit written right through it. Well played Ten Hag. Well played Manchester United. 

Over the course of 90 minutes of a super game, 7-1 at the bookies became 2-1 on the field. However you wish to look at it, this was an FA Cup final upset to place with some that have passed before. 

Whether it should be enough to earn Ten Hag another crack at actually moving United forwards in to a sustainable and respectable future is a different matter entirely. 

And the truth of it is that if Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group felt on Saturday morning that Ten Hag was not the man for them then that should remain the case right now. If they change their mind and indeed their whole strategy on the back of one result, what would it say about them?

They’ve been played a bit over these last few days, Ratcliffe and his gang. Talking to agents about their clients as possible future United managers and then refreshing their mobile phones at the start of the weekend to discover that there is absolutely no such thing in football as a confidential conversation. They should feel embarrassed about that. A lesson learned, perhaps.

In terms of their current manager, this was a cup final played out in the most difficult of circumstances. Facing Pep Guardiola’s brutally monotonous Manchester City is an arduous enough task at the best of times. Doing it with your neck in a noose is another thing entirely. 

This was an enormous victory for Ten Hag, then. Possibly the biggest of his career, both in terms of his standing with the United support and indeed his own sense of worth. It was hard not to feel pleased for him. He is a graceful and dignified man and it was wholly understandable that his post-match demeanour was of the front foot variety.

The 54-year-old has clearly had enough of the endless questions about his future, the criticism of his tactics and indeed his results. He clearly saw this bespoke counter attacking performance and indeed this momentous big match result as a vindication of his methods. The only problem is that it arguably isn’t true.

United played terrifically well at Wembley. On the whole they neutered City’s immense and varied attacking threat and struck clinically on the break. Their first goal – touched in by Alejandro Garnacho after a City defensive mix-up – was lucky. 

The second – scored at the far post by young Kobbie Mainoo – was utterly and spellbindingly beautiful. Goodness me, that no-look pass by Bruno Fernandes will stay in the memory all summer.

But this was a performance that, sadly for Ten Hag, prompted as many questions as it did answers. The main one being: Where on earth has this been all season?

Ten Hag points at injuries. In recent weeks, as the darkness has drawn in and the pressure of failure has started to impair his judgement and his utterances, this is has become the Dutchman’s stock refrain. Injuries, injuries, injuries. Always injuries.

Yes, he has suffered greatly in this regard. It happens sometimes. And the fact that this performance appeared with so many of his big players suddenly back on the field played to his argument. Still, though, it’s an argument shot through with holes.

When you look at a coach in good times and in bad, you look for method, you look for strategy, you look for contingency planning and you look for repeat themes. No matter how hard things are and how bad things get, you look for signs that players are listening and motivated. You look for a recognisable style of play. This is how football clubs remain stable and calm and it’s how they move forwards.

Unfortunately for Ten Hag, this has been a season characterised by none of this. It’s been a season characterised by chaos, on the field and off the field. 

For all the glorious triumph of this day, they were wretched for an hour against Liverpool at home in the quarter-final of the Cup. They beat Coventry from the Championship on penalties in the semi-final. 

The truth is that this performance in the final was the outlier, the one day when Ten Hag and his players did get it superbly and magnificently right. But in some ways, what it has done is shine a pretty ugly light on all the incoherence that has passed before and reopen all those questions and conversations about why it has been that way.

At full-time, it was instructive to see central defender Lisandro Martinez – magnificent on the day – take his manager in his arms. Luke Shaw, struck down cruelly with injuries once again this season, also looked moved. 

Afterwards defender Jonny Evans spoke warmly about his manager and that resonated against the background of a victory statement subsequently released by Ratcliffe that failed to mention Ten Hag at all. Clumsy or deliberate? Either way, it was an unimpressive footnote to the day.

Ten Hag has needed more than love and platitudes from his players over the last ten months, however, and from the moment VAR saved them during a scratchy opening weekend win at home against Wolves, there has been nowhere near enough of sporting substance to bolster his case.

He opened his own post-match review on Saturday by saying his team are ‘exactly where we want to be’. His point is that he has a group of players that he feels will get better and there are indeed some players he can justifiably say this about. 

Mainoo is a shining light, Garnacho is gifted and Rasmus Hojlund may yet blossom. But United have just finished a Premier League season in eighth position and with a negative goal difference. This was not a season spent with players like Casemiro and Jonny Evans at centre back, as was the case when they collapsed 4-0 at Crystal Palace recently. 

There have been plenty of occasions when something close to a first choice Ten Hag team has played desperately poorly and to suggest otherwise would be entirely false.

The truth is that Ratcliffe and his gang must decide what it is they want for the future of their football club. If the occasional against the odds victory earned on the back of 26.5per cent possession against a genuinely top side is for them then they may as well turn the clock back 25 years, dress themselves up in sky blue and call themselves the old Manchester City.

If they want more than that – if they want a football team that can play on the front foot with its chest out and with the intention of dominating opponents and dictating games – then they will doubtless pick the phone up again and recommence some of the conversations so desperately and embarrassingly leaked at the back end of last week.

This was a wonderful two hours in the sunshine for United and their supporters, a reminder of what the FA Cup can mean. Champagne on the field and in the dressing room. Bad dancing to bad music after the after-party. This is football. This is joy.

But all parties end. The hangover always arrives like a slow train. And the good news for Ten Hag late on Saturday was that there is not another game to follow this one.

A week after they knocked Liverpool out of the Cup they were outplayed at Brentford. A week after beating Coventry they drew at home to Burnley. And this is how it has been under Ten Hag during this regressive season. The occasional boom followed by an equally spectacular bust. United don’t play another game of note now until the Community Shield back at Wembley at the start of August. So the reality check can wait.

If Ten Hag, as likeable and honest as he is, remains in charge for that one it will be a surprise.