Erik ten Hag was furious with his side’s “unprofessional” display after Liverpool inflicted a 7-0 humiliation that equalled Man Utd’s heaviest ever competitive defeat; United left Anfield in mortifying silence – their response needs to be loud against Real Betis and then Southampton
Erik ten Hag is “alarmed” by Manchester United’s embarrassing surrender to Liverpool and won’t allow fatigue to be used as an excuse, writes Melissa Reddy.
There was only a slight break in the silence as Manchester United’s players engaged in a walk of football shame from the away dressing room at Anfield through to their team coach.
In response to requests to stop and front up in the mixed zone, Bruno Fernandes reflected he’d already done that live on Sky Sports. How much can you say after being embarrassingly undressed by your biggest rivals in the club’s heaviest defeat since Boxing Day 1931?
While journalists wanted the visiting squad to properly hold their hands up instead, Erik ten Hag wanted to hear nothing from them.
For the manager, there were zero words that could calm the reality that having been competitive for 43 minutes, United threw in the towel with just ’50 up on the clock. In public, the descriptions he circled were “really unprofessional” and “unacceptable.”
The message he shared to the squad was peppered with more colourful language that can’t be repeated, which translated to “a disgrace.”
Ten Hag will not allow the tired United narrative to take hold. In the two training sessions following the late, exacting victory over West Ham, Manchester United had lacked zip which was concerning.
The exertions of ousting Barcelona to progress in Europe, scorching Leicester City, securing the first piece of silverware under Erik ten Hag at Newcastle’s expense, and reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals had clearly told: 21 fixtures in 75 days with a thin squad is not ideal.
But success is demanding and while fatigue can explain a drop in intensity or concentration, it does not mitigate a betrayal of doing the basics in the job, prompting Ten Hag to describe this as “obviously” an “unprofessional” performance.
Ten Hag was “alarmed” by United’s surrender after the interval, particularly given the positive team talk at half-time. He stood almost motionless for the final 15 minutes to “analyse the performance of my team, how is their approach, how is their character, their mentality, how they deal with setbacks, I look at their body language.”
The manager underplayed his annoyance with conceding at such a critical game-management juncture – Andy Robertson and Cody Gakpo combining superbly for the opener with the half-time break in sight – and instead pointed out how much his side had created.
The game was there to be won, and Ten Hag was convincing his players they could be the winners. He flagged that United’s first attack had forced an intervention from Alisson, who tipped Antony’s effort around the post. Bruno Fernandes should have done better directing his header off Diogo Dalot’s delivery and Marcus Rashford had atypically scuffed a shot from Luke Shaw’s service.
