Erik ten Hag asserted that he is “not Harry Potter” after Liverpool delivered a humiliating defeat to his Manchester United side.
The Dutch manager passionately defended his methods, emphasizing that United remain the second-most successful team in the current era, following their neighbours, Manchester City.
Liverpool secured a convincing 3-0 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah.
Despite being without several injured players and the unavailability of new signing Manuel Ugarte, United were still able to field three of their summer arrivals.
Reflecting on the match, Ten Hag stated: “I don’t want to talk about positives today.
“There are some.
“But we have to take this defeat. It hurts for us, especially our fans, we have to be humble and give compliments to Liverpool, but we need to move on.
“It’s not like I’m Harry Potter and you have to acknowledge that.
“It’s just the third game in the season, we have to build a new team and I’ve explained this so many times now.
“We will build this new team.
“We have young players and players we can build into the season, we had two or three players who were playing their first 90 of the season.
“We will be fine but it’s clear we have to improve but by the end of the season I am confident we will have a big chance to win another trophy this season.
“If you see Manuel Ugarte, he has hasn’t played a minute this season. He needs to build his fitness.
“Then we can build him in the team and he can contribute but that will take a couple of weeks, even more.”
Erik ten Hag has often highlighted that under his management, Manchester United have secured more major trophies than any other English club, except Manchester City, since he took charge.
United claimed the League Cup in the 2022/23 season and the FA Cup last season.
The Dutchman reiterated this point during a recent exchange with a journalist, who suggested that United’s disappointing Premier League performance, finishing eighth last season, might be due to poor coaching.
“You are sure?” said Ten Hag.
“I don’t think so or you wouldn’t win trophies like we did and to beat big opponents.
“I’m sorry for you. After City we won the most trophies. I’m sorry for you.”
Meanwhile, Erik ten Hag dismissed speculation that Casemiro left Old Trafford at half-time after being substituted due to a poor first-half performance.
“I met him after the game in the dressing room, so he didn’t leave the stadium at half-time,” said the United boss.
“I said to him I took him off because we were 2-0 down and with the opponent like Liverpool that has quality that is very good we had to take risks as we wanted to bounce back.
“The new players in the middle could cover more ground.
“In football, everyone has to take responsibility.
“I’m sure he is a great character and has won everything in his career.
“I’m sure he will keep his confidence.
“He will be there.”
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