Manchester United manager assesses the humiliating defeat to Liverpool
A high-flying Manchester United side fell prey to Liverpool who are endeavouring to finish top four after having a slow start to the season.
A repeat of the humiliation from last season was on the card again, this time a more embarrassing one, especially when Manchester United have rejuvenated well from their past woes. 7-0 stood the scoreline at Anfield as Liverpool ran riot over Erik Ten Hag’s Reds who went down without even providing a fight.
Here is what the Dutch manager had to say after this disgraceful performance:
United had the chance to turn around things after conceding a goal late in the first half but instead totally threw the game away. Erik Ten Hag chided the disorganization his team structured in the second half which led to the humiliation.
"“You can lose a game but not in the way we lose in the second half. In the first half, we played very decent. We created the better chances and then made an organisational mistake. The second half was unprofessional. It can’t happen and we have to talk about it. I do think we played decent in the first half but the second half was not us. Not our standards. We didn’t play as a team.”"
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The manager reflected directly his mood in the post-match press conference and demonstrated a shock after how he had instilled a winning mentality among the team.
"“Yes, definitely [angry], and surprised. I have seen, the last weeks and months, a team that is really in a winning attitude. In the second half, we did not have a winning attitude at all.”"
Ten Hag felt that his players relied heavily on individual performances against Liverpool and a selfish nature was present among them. At the end of the day, that is what cost them.
"“You can have setbacks but what can’t happen is you don’t stick together. You have to do your job, it’s not possible to make the wrong decisions in the transitions. We didn’t track the runs. We didn’t track back and that, for me, is unacceptable. As a squad, as a team, you can’t allow this. You have to stick together and you have to fight and support each other. You have to defend, which is what we didn’t do. You still have to keep your head up and that is what we didn’t do. We couldn’t cope with the defeat, maybe they were not used to it, it can be [like that] but you have to stick together. You can’t play as an individual.”"