Erik ten Hag: How Manchester United Boss ‘Punished’ His Players After Humiliating Loss to Liverpool

Erik ten Hag: How Manchester United Boss ‘Punished’ His Players After Humiliating Loss to Liverpool

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:27 PM
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  • Erik ten Hag began an immediate inquest into his side's embarrassing defeat to Liverpool on Sunday
  • The Head Coach is said to have forced his players to listen to Liverpool players go on with their celebrations
  • They will be hoping to bounce back with back-to-back home games against Real Betis and Southampton

Erik ten Hag reacted almost instantaneously to his side's shocking defeat to Liverpool on Sunday, March 5th. The post-mortem into the Anfield debacle is certainly set to last until Manchester United take to the pitch next to provide a response.

United shipped in seven goals from a ruthless Liverpool side who have had their struggles this season. Admittedly, the Red Devils have struggled at Anfield in recent times, but no one could have seen a 7-0 scoreline coming.

Erik ten Hag, Manchester United, Liverpool
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag during the Premier League match at Anfield, Liverpool. Photo by Peter Byrne.
Source: Getty Images

Ten Hag was infuriated during his post-match conference, and rightly so. He blasted his players for being unprofessional, especially in the second half.

"You can lose a game, but not in this way. Also, the second half is... unprofessional. That is not Manchester United. It can't happen. We have to talk about it. I saw 11 individuals losing their heads. This was not Manchester United."

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Anfield punishment

And now, as the Mirror reports, ten Hag forced his players to sit in silence in the dressing room and listen to Liverpool players go on with their celebrations. The former Ajax manager then gave the players a dressing down before embarking on the trip back to Manchester.

Sports Brief has reported that the players reported for training at 9 am on Monday morning, but that was not out of the blue. The said time is the scheduled time they were supposed to report for recovery sessions, Anfield's result notwithstanding.

Rashford speaks after Liverpool's loss

At the same time, Marcus Rashford, who has been central to everything the club has achieved this season, has stepped up as an attacking force for Erik Ten Hag but could not help to prevent the embarrassment against Liverpool.

He played only 85 minutes of the devastating loss before he was substituted and replaced by fellow academy graduate Anthony Elanga.

He has now broken his silence in a tweet with an eagerness to go again and make the results right and also urged the fans to trust the process.

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Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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