Premier League and FA Cup: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

1 United ride out Wembley whirlwind 

Jammy, jammy Man United. To be fair, they did find a new way to be hopeless. Instead of the usual mayhem, they were in total control for 70 minutes, barely letting Coventry have a shot. But then, somehow, they snatched chaos from the jaws of serenity. ITV, and all their teatime viewers, couldn’t believe their luck as a cakewalk turned into a classic. 

United threw away a 3-0 lead, and for a minute, right at the end of extra time, they were 4-3 down – only for the VAR to come to their rescue, after he had failed to when they conceded a penalty. We were witnessing history, comedy, tragedy, the lot. Casemiro took the first penalty and missed. Destiny was surely calling to Coventry, but André Onana rose to the occasion, flying to his right to paw away one penalty, craftily engineering a miss from another, and saving Erik ten Hag’s job. For now, anyway. Tim de Lisle 

Coventry 3-3 Manchester United (2-4 pens)

2 Rollercoaster afternoon for Robins 

It was billed as the Mark Robins derby. The man himself wasn’t having that: “It’s not about me,” he said firmly beforehand. But as this semi-final unfolded, it actually was about him. His decision to switch to a back five went horribly wrong, giving Diogo Dalot the space to run the show. Manchester United were transformed, taking control and even looking, as Harry Maguire put it, “very professional”. 

At half-time Robins made the obvious change, reverting to a back four. It made a big difference, allowing Coventry to get shots away and compete on level terms, but they still didn’t score and even conceded a third. Robins kept the faith, made astute substitutions, and his luck turned: two goals in 10 minutes, one more in the 95th. The fairytale