da doce： United may have won Sunday's semi-final on penalties, but the overriding sensation was disbelief, and the Dutchman can't expect to survive much longer

da bet vitoria： Sir Jim Ratcliffe had spent his Sunday morning running the London Marathon, clocking a hugely impressive four-and-a-half hours at 71 years of age. But for Manchester United's minority shareholder, pounding the capital's tarmac must have felt like a breeze compared to the emotional rollercoaster he went on at Wembley Stadium later in the day.

Ratcliffe arrived at United's semi-final against Coventry City at half-time when United were 2-0 up, taking his seat next to majority owners Avram and Joel Glazer, whom he had paid £1.3 billion ($1.6bn) for the privilege of being involved in the club. He has described investing in United as the most exciting project he's been involved in, and if he wanted excitement and drama, he is sure getting it. Just not in the way he had imagined.

After seeing Bruno Fernandes put United 3-0 up, he then watched the team do what they have done throughout this season: take their hand off the steering wheel and go on a truly wild ride. They ended up with the same result as they looked to have when they were 3-0 up, a ticket back to Wembley to face Manchester City. But as all keen travellers will tell you, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And someone as driven as demanding as Ratcliffe will have been horrified with the way United got there.

Getty ImagesWilcox's first impression

Ratcliffe and the Glazer brothers were not the only high-profile members of United's hierarchy at Wembley to witness their most unconvincing of passages to the final. INEOS sport director Sir Dave Brailsford was there alongside United's latest recruit, technical director Jason Wilcox, who was officially hired on Friday.

Wilcox was headhunted from Southampton, but built a lot of his reputation as head of Manchester City's academy. The City Football Academy has produced an incredible conveyor belt of talent over the past decade, including Phil Foden, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Cole Palmer, as well as a number of stars who have had impressive careers away from the Etihad Stadium.

City academy graduates often look like factory products, programmed to play in a certain system, to show confidence on the ball and move it around seamlessly while remaining in control. But United are a team with no control at all, especially in the latter stages of games.

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, and Wilcox's impression of United was of a team that was unable to negotiate their way past a team that are eighth in the Championship, a club that was in the fourth tier of English football as recently as 2018.

Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesAlways on the edge

Ten Hag felt a mixture of pride at reaching a second successive FA Cup final and of horror of the fact they almost contrived to throw it away. "Mixed feelings is clear. It's a huge achievement to be twice in a FA Cup final in two years. The last 20 years, United was in five times. Now two times in two years, a huge achievement," he said.

"But when you are so in control in a game, dominating, you should bring it over the finish. The way we did was not good. I have to say in the penalties, how we act there, how determined, that was a good sign showing good character. From 70th minute to the end we made mistakes and it shouldn't have happened."

The ragged end to the game was far from an isolated moment. It formed part of a clear pattern of a team that are always on the edge, even when they appear to be in control.

(C)Getty ImagesLetting results slip

Since the incredible 4-3 win over Liverpool after extra-time in the quarter-finals just before the international break, United have played five matches and won none of them in normal time. In the first game back against Brentford, they conceded an equaliser in the 99th minute, while at Chelsea a few days later, they managed to concede two goals, in the 100th and 101st minute respectively, turning a 3-2 win into a 4-3 defeat.

Against Liverpool in the league they gave away an 84th-minute penalty, and they looked to have conceded an added-time penalty at Bournemouth six days later, only to be spared by VAR. At Wembley on Sunday, they conceded three times in the final 19 minutes, conceding the final goal in the 94th minute. It was the third penalty they had given away in five games, all within the final 10 minutes or later.

"We can play on very high levels within the same match, also we can go very low levels in the same game," Ten Hag said. "That's not explainable, but it has to do with managing the game, taking responsibility for each other. We have to do better in such occasions, but the difficult thing to do is put ourselves in a winning position, the last thing is much easier. On several occasions we let ourselves done and let the result slip away, but we got away with it [this time]."

Getty ImagesAlien to control

If you're being kind about United you could say that small margins have been the difference between them having a good season and the chaotic, inconsistent campaign they have endured. Ten Hag has tried to make that case repeatedly, lamenting referee's decisions that have gone against them and calling their habit of conceding penalties "a curse".

Another version is that they have actually been lucky not to have had even worse results. They were spared a humiliating defeat to Coventry by VAR, a fractional offside against Haji Wright ruling Viktor Torp's 121st-minute goal out. Coventry coach Mark Robins joked that Wright would have been onside "if he had cut his toenail".

But United should not be getting themselves in these positions. They are incapable of taking the sting out of games and slowing the play down. Chaos seems to be the only way they know.

United have won just two of their previous 10 matches over 90 minutes. Those victories were against Everton and Nottingham Forest, who are both fighting relegation, and neither of them were particularly convincing. They beat Forest with a last-minute header from Casemiro and Everton with two penalties, having conceded 16 and 23 shots, respectively.