I disagree with this, it is more than a very good achievement for the middle pack teams. People say they are nice to have it or mickey mouse clearly doing a injustice to the FA cup. There is very good evidence behind this. Since 1992, apart from Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manutd and City, only 4 clubs have won the FA cup. In 32 years, the FA cup is won by the bigger team, which shows the importance given to it.
The League cup, since 2004, only 2 clubs have won it outside those teams, Swansea and Birmingham.
I don’t understand where you are getting the narrative that Ten Hag wants us to be a mid table team because numerous times after winning the cup, he has said it wasn’t good enough, he wants to be higher in the league.