Erik Ten Hag insisted he was not embarrassed but admitted Manchester United “got away with it” after edging past Championship Coventry on penalties in their FA Cup semi-final.The Premier League outfit were given an almighty scare at Wembley on Sunday as the second-tier side fought back from 3-0 down and then had a late extra-time winner disallowed for a marginal offside.A thrilling contest ended 3-3 after 120 minutes and it was United who ultimately prevailed, 4-2 on spot-kicks, to set up a repeat of last year’s final against rivals Manchester City.It was another highly unconvincing performance by United – which may have increased the pressure on under-fire manager Ten Hag – but the Dutchman tried to highlight the positives.Ten Hag said: “I can’t say that word (embarrassment) because, at the end of the day, it’s about the achievement.“I see the mistakes we make – we can’t look away from it – but it’s not an embarrassment. It’s a huge achievement.“Even the big team from United, a decade ago, only achieved the final three times. We now have two times in two years. So that’s a good performance.“I see we can play in very high levels but in the same match we can also go very low. That’s not explainable. It has to do with managing the game.SOURCE: PA
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00:00 Will you be embarrassed at the way you've got to the final?
00:02 Obviously, they're happy you're there, but embarrassed at the manner in which you've made it there?
00:06 No, no, I don't. I can't see that word.
00:11 Because at the end of the day, it's about the achievement.
00:14 And, yeah, I see the mistakes we make.
00:19 We can't look away from it.
00:21 But it's not an embarrassment.
00:23 It's, as I say, it's a huge achievement.
00:25 So even a big team from United, from a decade ago, they only achieved the final three times.
00:36 We now have two times in two years.
00:38 So that's a good performance.
00:40 And that, with all the setbacks we have in this season.
00:43 So we can play on very high levels, but in the same match,
00:50 also we can go very low levels in the same game.
00:54 And that's not explainable, but it has to do with managing the game, of course.
01:01 Take responsibility, take each other into responsibility.
01:05 So keep organised and make the right decisions.
01:09 And, yeah, I have to teach my players, clear.
01:14 And we have to do better in such occasions.
01:17 But also I have to say, the most difficult we can do is to put ourselves in a winning position.
01:23 And the last thing is much easier.
01:26 But we, on several occasions, we let each other down and we let the result slip away.
01:33 But today we got away with it.