Manchester United players' reaction to beating Coventry shows Erik ten Hag has to go

"You're getting sacked in the morning," hollered the Coventry fans. Erik ten Hag probably won't but he should.

Antony cupped his ears as Rasmus Hojlund celebrated the decisive penalty in the shootout. Almost every other United player in the centre circle was restrained. They were that embarrassed. Antony was embarrassing.

Even in victory, this was a defeat for Ten Hag. United's spineless performance after the 70-minute mark and fortuitous progression should settle any lingering debate over the manager's future. This was more damning evidence to file in the teeming dossier marked 'Ten Hag out'.

United survived a Coventry comeback, a disallowed goal in the 121st minute and an unsuccessful penalty from Casemiro at the start of the spotkicks. Ten Hag will probably survive the season.

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"Three-nil and you f****d it up" crowed the Coventry fans, who then started a chorus of "You're getting sacked in the morning". There is a case to be made for that.

Coventry manager Mark Robins kept one United manager in a job and he has possibly put one out of his, despite the end of the Championship side's FA Cup run. They were millimetres away from one of the most famous results at Wembley when substitute Victor Torp pounced in added time of extra-time.

Booing greeted the full-time whistle from United supporters when their team was still in the FA Cup. They are in the final yet this is a hollow achievement. The stern expressions on the faces of Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire at the final shrill confirmed that. The United end emptied quicker than Coventry's.

United, incapable of killing contests, went from 3-0 up to 3-3 in 21 madcap minutes. Conceding in quick succession and in added time are death knells for this squad. And the manager is a dead man walking.

Coventry struck twice in eight minutes and Andre Onana was reduced to time wasting and booked. An embarrassed Diogo Dalot urged him to quicken the play. Onana was fishing the ball out of his net again from Haji Wright's 95th-minute penalty.

Onana collected a second yellow card during the shootout and the gamesmanship worked. Ben Sheaf skied his penalty and the blunt Hojlund sharpened up for the penalty.

No player embodied United's feebleness more than Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He refused to face Callum O'Hare's shot that looped in and his panicky position gifted Wright the equalising penalty. He was hapless again for Torp's disallowed effort.

Ten Hag erred in hooking Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, United's best players this season, at 3-0 and then 3-1. Hojlund was a boy among men. Half the bench consisted of schoolboys.

The mood was so sombre among the United followers during the extra-time interval that Dalot turned impromptu cheerleader. The loudest was when the Video Assistant Referee confirmed they had been reprieved by a narrow offside.

It typifies Ten Hag's second season that two players he was prepared to jettison are endeavouring to keep him in a job. Not for the first time, Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire were there in Ten Hag's hour of need when they were not needed during the summer transfer window.

McTominay clutched his groin when his number was up and limped to join the huddle. Maguire also succumbed to injury yet soldiered on for the second week running. United effectively put both on the transfer list but they put their bodies on the line for the manager.

"Glory glory Man Utd" read one banner, complemented by another with "as the Reds go marching on". A poor season could still end gloriously for United, who will march on to Wembley for a fifth time in two seasons.

Only Sir Matt Busby, Tommy Docherty, Sir Alex Ferguson and now Ten Hag have guided United to successive FA Cup finals. Ten Hag, the only besuited player or staff member, will require another Cup final suit on May 25.

The daunting challenge will be to stop the rot against City in a repeat of last year's final. United have lost the last three derbies convincingly though City were unconvincing at Wembley against Chelsea. United will not be giving them sleepless nights.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe had showered and suited up for his attendance in the royal box after running the London Marathon. He was surrounded by power brokers active (Sir Dave Brailsford and Jason Wilcox) and dormant (Avram Glazer) and, whatever the outcome of United's finale at Wembley in five weeks, a verdict will have to be swiftly declared on the manager's position if it hasn't already. Ten Hag has to go.

Coventry were obliging opponents for 70 minutes. Robins played for United in the 1990s and his side played as though it was the United of that vintage they were pitted against. They managed a meagre one attempt at goal in a first half United ended with 65 per cent possession.

With the contest seemingly killed, Ten Hag and Mitchell van der Gaag held a 62nd-minute conflab to decide which substitute would first be introduced. That is a luxury United have seldom had this season and this would have been only their seventh victory by a margin of two goals or more.

Predictably, Ten Hag gave playing time to Antony and Christian Eriksen. Ellis Simm's sharp shot and O'Hare's deflected pot-shot ensured all substitutes sat back down. United's collapse was also a missed opportunity to introduce the 250th academy graduate to debut.

The west section of Wembley was packed with midlanders waving sky blue flags long before kick-off. United's followers are veterans of the national stadium and their section was sparse for a hollow and pointless pre-match mosaic.

Antony's match preview post on Instagram referred to Coventry as 'Covertry'. If that was a lack of respect, Coventry paid United far too much for over an hour.

Ten Hag had two players back from injury but three more flies dropped, leaving United devoid of ten senior squad members. The squad numbers of their five academy members on the bench totalled 369.

While Ten Hag continues to be indebted to McTominay and Maguire, one of his regulars was a difference at both ends. Dalot made a beeline for Ten Hag following his assist for McTominay and he kept Simms at bay in the closing stages of the first half, earning a high five from the grateful Casemiro. Dalot converted his fourth penalty in a shootout to get United on the board at 1-0 down.

Dalot and Bruno Fernandes have avoided injury all season and the latter ensured his contribution would not end with an assist for Maguire. Fernandes has scored five goals in the last four United games and will captain United for the fifth time at Wembley in another capital derby. His shootout strike swung the momentum in United's favour.

McTominay, only in the team at the expense of Willy Kambwala, the latest fly to drop, crowned his return with a tenth goal of the campaign. This was a semi-final effort to follow his opener in the quarter-final, having secured nine points in the Premier League. Hojlund could do with learning from his six-yard box dash amid his five-game drought.

Simms, a former United trialist, sparked the Coventry comeback and almost broke the woodwork in the 116th minute. United at least avoided that ignominy.

United's injury toll for the season rose to 60 with the absences of Kambwala, Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat. Casemiro's deployment at centre half marked the 27th different back four of the season, personnel-wise, and a 13th different central defensive partnership of the season. Simms did not ruffle enough feathers in the first half.

Ethan Wheatley and Louis Jackson, both 18, are so callow they were absent from the squad list on the programme. The revelation of their squad inclusions by this newspaper on Saturday meant it was safe for them to post images of their shirts bearing their names before the teamsheets were distributed.

Half of United's outfield substitutes had never played for the first team while Omari Forson and Amad have a meagre four starts between them. They were needed as the duel approached the two-hour mark.