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.
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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.”
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The message he shared to the squad was peppered with more colourful language that can’t be repeated, which translated to “a disgrace.”
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester United
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.
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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.
Image: Sunday's 7-0 Anfield annihilation equalled United’s record competitive defeat – against Blackburn in 1926, Aston Villa in 1930 and Wolves in 1931
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.
Image: Manchester United capitulated horribly at Anfield
United were soaking up Liverpool’s pressure and monopoly on possession, while threatening whenever they thieved the ball.
Ten Hag admitted he couldn’t properly explain what happened when the teams returned to the pitch and, as one visiting player’s agent put it, “United lost their heads, legs, and cajones.”
In seven minutes, the League Cup winners went from being right in the game to inviting a 7-0 rinsing. Ten Hag’s alarm was not just about the speed of the capitulation, but the manner of it. Having focused so heavily on recruiting and keeping the right characters at United, cultivating a culture of collective responsibility, he was stunned at the senior pros – the reference points – abdicating their duties.
Image: United were more than in the game until Cody Gakpo opened the scoring
In the build-up to the game, Ten Hag even circled that hostile environments drew the best out of his group because “we have many leaders who set the mentality, who set the standards, who control the standards, who correct if necessary.”
Those leaders did not emerge from the dressing room in the second half.
There is no medicine for the manager, coaching staff, nor the performance analysts that have to sweep through the entire match again in preparation for a video session with the players.
They will be forced to put their hoodies down, pick their heads up, and face a non-performance of historic proportion.
There might be the tiniest solace in the Anfield factor. United are not in isolation of being swallowed and spat out at the ground – ask Barcelona and peak Manchester City.
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In 2019, Pep Guardiola detailed: The motto “This is Anfield” is no marketing spin. There’s something about it that you will find in no other stadium in the world. They score a goal and over the next five minutes you feel that you’ll receive another four. You feel small and the rival players seem to be all over.”
Ten Hag’s comments that Anfield is “no different” and his “players like to play in such atmospheres” felt like a skit during the second half. That is without even factoring United haven’t been victors at Anfield since 2016, scoring once in the past eight trips.
Image: The United playing group are in for an uncomfortable review at Carrington on Monday
But the Dutchman has illustrated a strength in reacting to dark moments.
Sunday’s defeat is the third time this season in which United have conceded four or more goals. After being humiliated by Brentford in August and City in the derby in October, on both occasions Ten Hag’s men won the following league game.
“I know this team will reset and we have to bounce back and we have shown in the past we can,” he said.
“If you do the right things, if you react with the right measures as a manager and as a team, you can learn a lot from it and can strengthen your mentality.”
United left Anfield in mortifying silence. Their response needs to be loud against Real Betis and then Southampton.
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