WEMBLEY STADIUM — At half-time and cruising, one cynic claimed Manchester United had found their level, beating up on a Championship side. He was being ironic, of course, except United proved him right. They had reached their level against a Championship team, needing penalties to progress to the FA Cup final. Let’s see how they cope five weeks hence against the sky blue upgrade that is Manchester City. Just as Coventry had the measure of United on the grass so did their supporters spear Erik ten Hag off it with that gallows anthem “getting sacked in the morning”. They had a point. United had ..read more

Coventry 3-3 Man Utd (2-4 on pens) (Simms 71′ O’Hare 79′, Wright pen 90+3′ | McTominay 23′, Maguire 45+1′, Fernandes 59′) WEMBLEY STADIUM — The FA Cup final will be an all-Manchester affair for the second year running after United survived an almighty scare to progress beyond Coventry and set up a Wembley showdown with Pep Guardiola’s City. United outclassed their Championship counterparts for an hour with goals from Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes establishing what looked like an insurmountable lead. We all should have known better. From being in complete control, Erik ten ..read more

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea (Silva 84′) Pep Guardiola may fear that Manchester City have run out of fuel, but they will never lose their fight. Bernardo Silva will not believe he can atone for that penalty in one go, but scoring a Wembley winner is a good start. A deflected shot from a deflected goal was a fitting denouement to an aesthetically dubious FA Cup semi-final. The Football Association has come under fire this week for the perceived lack of consultation with those outside the financial elite over the scrapping of replays. What it needed was a PR shot in the arm. And fair play, nobody ..read more

A number of EFL and National League clubs will consider boycotting next season’s FA Cup following the decision to scrap replays, i has been told. A series of seismic changes to the world’s oldest domestic cup competition were announced on Thursday following an agreement between the Premier League and FA and “in light of changes to the calendar driven by the expanded Uefa competitions”. Executives and board members from League One, League Two and National League clubs are keen to gauge whether there is enough support for widespread action, which could also include organising public protests aga ..read more

For Mark Robins and Coventry City, surely the happiest marriage in the EFL, it all started at Wembley. Less than a month after his return had been confirmed, Coventry upset Oxford United in the EFL Trophy final in April 2017. The bulk of the 74,000 attendees had travelled down by car and train and coach from the West Midlands, a Sky Blue river flowing towards the national stadium. Then, Wembley offered a day to temporarily pause the mourning and their abject grief. Coventry had lost their first three games in a week under Robins without scoring, a team sliding into the fourth tier for the firs ..read more

This wasn’t just the noisy work of a few, the kid who didn’t know better or the idiot who has committed monastically to becoming an edgelord whose football club forms 98 per cent of their personality. It was hundreds, perhaps even thousands. You know the ones by now: “Always the victims” and “The Sun was right”. “Murderers” was chanted, en masse, at least five times during Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Old Trafford with the noise coming almost exclusively from the Stretford End. This was not a few bad eggs. This was hatred on a grander scale from those who go to watch Manchester United every other we ..read more

This is an extract of The Score. Click the sign-up box below to receive the newsletter every Monday morning this season for Daniel Storey’s verdict on all 20 Premier League clubs OLD TRAFFORD — 10 minutes after half-time at Old Trafford, with Liverpool possessing a lead and dominance and just about everything a Liverpool supporter could want at this ground, four green-and-white quartered shirts attacked as one flying group faced by one young kid in red who would have been forgiven for shuddering. This was the game on the line. The young kid won out. When the game went dead 10 seconds later, Ko ..read more

Man Utd 4-3 Liverpool (McTominay 10′, Antony 87′, Rashford 112′, Diallo 120+1′ | Mac Allister 44′, Salah 45+2′, Elliott 105′) OLD TRAFFORD — Antony was in tears. Alejandro Garnacho beat his chest, shorts rolled up to show his muddied thighs like Roy of the Rovers, Diogo Dalot sunk to his knees, while Bruno Fernandes lost his head for all the right reasons this time. Yet, as pandemonium ensued all around him, euphoric scenes to match any of their 20 league titles, Erik ten Hag kept his cool, despite one of the most extraordinary victories ever seen in this famous old stadium, against his side’s ..read more

The Football Association was told there were “no major issues” with kits worn by Chelsea and Leicester City for their FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday, despite both sides playing in blue. Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea squandered a 2-0 lead at Stamford Bridge before goals from Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke after Callum Doyle was sent off handed the Blues a 4-2 victory. But the game was marred for many BBC viewers, who aired their grievances online, by the choice of shirt worn by the two teams. Chelsea played in their regular blue home strip, while Leicester’s away shirt is described as “bla ..read more

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