Sport
Erik ten Hag slams ‘unprofessional’ United as pundits take lumps after Liverpool embarrassment
United matched a 90-year-old record they'll not soon forget as a result of the defeat.
Erik ten Hag has slammed his Manchester United players after their hefty defeat to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Dutch coach was on the end of an unbelievable 7-0 thrashing in just his first visit to Merseyside and just his second competitive match against Liverpool as United manager, with the home team only scoring one in the first half before slotting in another six in the second 45.
Despite starting the game ok and showing some semblance of control in the first half, even scoring what they thought was the opener before it was ruled offside, United clearly lost their heads and once the second goal went in, the floodgates were well and truly open.
Speaking to media after the game, ten Hag summed things up by saying that mistakes can happen but “it’s not possible to make the wrong decision in the transition and not match the runs, we didn’t track back. That is, for me, unprofessional”.
ten Hag went on to repeat his “very unprofessional” verdict in the post-match press conference too, going on to state that “as a team, you have to stick together. That is what we didn’t do. It is a surprise for me, I didn’t see this from my team.”
As per BBC Sport, the 53-year-old conceded that he didn’t recognise his side in the second half: “I don’t think it is us. I don’t think it is Manchester United. It was really bad, really poor.” As well as confessing his anger, he also admitted that this was a “reality check” for the squad, especially after the “resilience” and results they have shown over the last few weeks.
Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t the only one with plenty to say following the battering: captain Bruno Fernandes hinted that the result could be ‘psychologically damaging‘ for the rest of the season Luke Shaw said he and his teammates will be forced to watch back the “embarrassment” in great detail.
Turning to the pundits, club legends Gary Neville and Paul Scholes labelled the game a “shambles” and even “criminal” at times, with the former calling out Bruno’s second-half performance in particular as a “disgrace” — the midfielder playing most of the game stuck out of position on the left wing.
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The defeat itself was Man United’s heaviest defeat in any competition since Boxing Day, 1931, when they were hit for seven by Wolves.
On the other hand, many went on to insist that was just a ‘blip’ for United and that they will obviously “bounce back”, but as Micah Richards told Match of the Day, it’s hard to call that result anything other than what it was: a “humiliation”.
You can watch Erik ten Hag’s post-match press conference in full and the highlights from Liverpool vs United HERE.
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Featured Image — beINSPORTS/Sky Sports/Liverpool (via Twitter)
Sport
Manchester City loanee João Cancelo looks ‘possessed’ in viral post-match interview
Danny Jones
Manchester City loanee João Cancelo has gone viral after countless people online said that he looked “possessed” in a post-match interview over the weekend.
The 29-year-old City star, currently on loan at Barcelona, scored the winner for the Spanish giants in their game against Celta Vigo on Saturday, 23 September.
has already grabbed a couple of goals and an assist this season — one of them being the third in Barca’s 3-2 victory, which came in the 89th minute of the game.
So, naturally, Spanish media wanted to chat with him after full-time and we’d pay good money to know how this particular interviewer reacted after Cancelo suddenly started pulling these extremely weird faces mid-chat:
What the hell is going on? We have no idea but it’s certainly amused and intrigued people online.
With many commenting that he looks as though he’s suddenly become “possessed” by some sort of supernatural force and others joking that he must have just “come straight from a rave” to play a quick 90 minutes, people have been genuinely scratching their heads at the bizarre clip.
The video has been viewed over 12 million times on TikTok and reshared by countless other users across various different social media platforms.
Maybe he just had really dry eyes and an even drier mouth? Either that or he was still riding an absolute adrenaline high from this moment:
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The ever-dynamic fullback, who regularly floats between the wing and central midfielder, arrived at the Bernabéu this summer after spending half a season on loan at Bayern Munich.
Despite being arguably one of the best players in the Premier League and winning plenty of silverware under Pep Guardiola, the two seemingly fell out sometime last season and Cancelo was ultimately sidelined by the Catalan coach sidelined.
Now playing at Pep’s boyhood club and enjoying regular minutes thus far (after also being out of the Bayern squad earlier this year), it remains to be seen whether the two will mend fences and the Portuguese star will return to the Etihad at some point in the future.
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Image — La Liga/@bernataf (via TikTok)
Sport
Marcus Rashford gives update after car crash on way home from Manchester United training ground
Emily Sergeant
Marcus Rashford has given a health update after getting into a car crash on his way home from Manchester United’s training ground.
After the Red Devils managed to secure a 1-0 away win over the fellow North West side Burnley in a Premier League clash on Saturday, thanks to a goal in the 45th minute by Portuguese attacker Bruno Fernandes, the players then left for Manchester and made their way back on the team bus to the club’s training facility.
But once the team had arrived at Carrington, and then all departed to make their separate ways home, Marcus Rashford was confirmed to have been involved in a road traffic collision with another vehicle.
According to reports in The Sun newspaper, the Wythenshawe-born winger had just left Carrington in his Rolls Royce – which is believed to be a market value of £700,000 – when the incident happened.
It’s believed some damage was sustained to the luxury vehicle.
Pictures and footage – which showed the extent of the crash damage – began emerging online following the incident, but it’s understood that no ambulance was required at the scene, and the 25-year-old walked away “unhurt”, Sky News reports.
Now, the 25-year-old footballer has now spoken out for the first time on social media following the incident.
Breaking his silence after the horrific crash on Instagram, Rashford assured fans he was okay with the short-but- simple message: “3 points on the road! I’m alright guys, thanks for the messages.”
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Although no confirmation on team selection has been revealed, with Rashford having sustained no injuries during the collision, many fans are expecting him to still be in the lineup when Manchester United face Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup tomorrow (26 September).
Featured Image – Manchester United
