A Mark Robins moment can revive Ten Hag - the boss is desperate for FA Cup win

This weekend marked the 34th anniversary of Mark Robins’ FA Cup winner for Manchester United at Nottingham Forest that is widely believed to have saved Sir Alex Ferguson.

United had gone eight games without a win and were in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle when they went to Brian Clough’s Forest in 1990. Word was that Fergie would be sacked if they went out.

The stakes might not be quite so high for Erik ten Hag as United go to Wigan Athletic in the third round on Monday night, but the Dutchman cannot afford too many more failures now Sir Jim Ratcliffe is in the building.

Ten Hag met Ratcliffe for the first time at Carrington last week, having spoken to his Ineos sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford in the wake of United’s 14th defeat in 28 games this season, at Forest funnily enough. They were all smiles in the photos, and the messages coming out of the camp have been equally upbeat.

Asked whether Ratcliffe’s arrival had cranked up the pressure, Ten Hag tried to focus on the positives from his initial discussions. ‘That is not up to me,’ he replied. ‘But from my talks, I had a fantastic feeling after it. The personalities, their ideas, the process they want to go in, so I am very positive about that and I am sure it will be beneficial for Manchester United.’

No doubt it was the same when Ratcliffe and Brailsford met Patrick Vieira after Ineos bought Nice in the summer of 2019. The French club have been through five coaches in the three and a half years since then.

But while Ten Hag doesn’t appear to be under any imminent threat, Ratcliffe has not paid £1.3billion to preside over failure. In losing 50 per cent of their games, United have suffered more defeats by the new year than in any season since 1930.

Te