Erik ten Hag was scathing in his assessment of his Manchester United squad, labelling his players “unprofessional” on three separate occasions after they subsided to their joint-heaviest competitive defeat, a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool.
United conceded six in a thrilling second half at Anfield, one where the visitors looked a far cry from the team who had won 16 of their 20 games since the World Cup, as Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all netted braces. Ten Hag’s side had had their moments of testing the Liverpool goal in the first half but seemed to lose any stomach for the fight as the goals rained down on them against their great rivals.
“I don’t have an explanation,” Ten Hag told Sky Sports. “In the first half, we were quite in control. Second half at the start we gave two goals away. There was no team anymore. We didn’t stick to the plan. There were 11 individuals. It’s really bad. I have given my opinion [to the players].
“It was unprofessional. You always have to stick together as a team. We didn’t do that. There was no discipline. You can have setbacks but you have to stick together and do your job. We made the wrong decisions. That for me is unprofessional. I’m really disappointed and angry. We let our fans down. As a squad, as a team, you cannot allow this. You have to stick together and support each other and fight for each other. You have to defend. We didn’t do that and for me that is really unprofessional.
“We have made a lot of progress but you see what happens when you don’t keep standards. What I have said in the dressing room is that this is unacceptable. But also it is only one game. We will bounce back.”
Perhaps no one epitomized the sense that United heads had gone quite like captain Bruno Fernandes, who appeared to feign injury on more than one occasion and reacted furiously after innocuous challenges. When Anthony Elanga replaced Marcus Rashford in the 85th minute Fernandes appeared to gesticulate toward the bench, asking why he was not being substituted.
Former United captain Gary Neville said, “There were things that I saw in that second half that were a disgrace and I’ll start with Bruno Fernandes because I’ve had enough of him throwing his arms around at his teammates, I’ve had enough of him not running back. He whinges at everybody. He got pushed in the chest and went down holding his face.
“He has got to put a captain’s performance in out there. That wasn’t a captain’s performance by a Manchester United player.”
The fury around Manchester United was only matched by the jubilation that engulfed Anfield after their biggest-ever win against their great rivals, a win made all the sweeter as Salah netted his 129th Premier League goal, the most a Liverpool player has scored in the competition. Jurgen Klopp’s side are now up to fifth, three points off Tottenham with a game in hand. Suddenly even the seven-point gap to third-placed United looks bridgeable.
“We need results and performances and tonight we got both,” Klopp told the BBC. “The start of the game was super dominant and super flexible.
“A few months ago everyone thought it was a good moment to play Liverpool — you can’t say it publicly but everyone thought it — because they felt we were struggling a lot but now it is less of a good moment, we look much more like ourselves. It is important that everyone knows we are here and we are still alive.”
