Pundits and Ten Hag rip into Man Utd players after being knocked out of the Europa League by Sevilla in embarrassing fashion.
Manchester United will want to forget that quarter-final in a hurry with an FA Cup semi final against Brighton, at Wembley next up.
It was a dreadful experience for everyone associated with Man Utd on Thursday night with the second leg in Seville likely stay in the minds of Erik Ten Hag when he is building his team for next season.
In the first leg at Old Trafford, Man Utd found themselves 2-0 up, but pair of late own goals put the tie in the balance come the second leg, yet little did the Premier league know the worst was yet to come.
It was quite the atmosphere at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, made better for Sevilla as they ran out comfortable 3-0 winners – 5-2 on aggregate – with two of their goals directly down to United errors.
Ten Hag’s team are only responsible for their own actions. It’s no wonder that the United manager was furious after the match.
“It’s clear, when we make such mistakes, it’s very difficult to win a football game,” Ten Hag told BT Sport.
“It’s obvious [the atmosphere may have had an impact] but it can’t be. The fans can expect that we can deal with it. I won’t say that’s an explanation for it.
“We were not composed, we were not calm. Once you beat the press there are huge spaces on the pitch but we didn’t do it at the start. It was so obvious how to do it.
“Bad decisions. And also we lose the battles. They had more passion, more desire, more willingness. For example the second goal. Then it’s difficult to win big football games.
“We showed on so many occasions good performances and good wins. But tonight and some occasions more, we were not ready for the game and it can’t be. When you’re at this level and playing for Man Utd you have to be ready for every game.
“This is a great opportunity, a great occasion, a quarter-final in Europe to win something and then you give it away. We have to blame ourselves.”
This was the second time this season Man Utd had made two errors leading directly to an opposition goal in the same match, with the other occasion coming in the 4-0 defeat to Brentford at the start of the season.
Ten Hag – who has also seen his team lose 6-3 in a Manchester derby and 7-0 to rivals Liverpool this season – admitted there is an issue within his team with individual mistakes.
“It’s a problem,” he said. “We can’t run away from it. But on Sunday [in the FA Cup semi-final with Brighton] we have another opportunity to work on that. We have to step up and show more character, personality.
“It’s not about [the players who are missing]. It’s about the players who are on the pitch. They have to perform. I believe in them, trust them and they have to show. Today we were not good enough.”
When asked about De Gea’s long-term future as Man Utd’s No1 goalkeeper following the performance, Ten Hag backed the Spaniard in his post-match press conference.
“He’s the one with the most clean sheets in the Premier League, so that shows he’s a very capable goalkeeper,” said the Man Utd head coach.
Paul Scholes said Manchester United were ‘an absolute disgraceful’ after their Europa League quarter final exit.
He told BT Sport: ‘Look it’s a difficult night. They didn’t handle the aggression from Sevilla tonight.
‘When you come to these places you expect to take examples from your most experienced players. Right from the very first minute de Gea kicks the ball out and then it went downhill from there.
‘Over the two games the own goals gave it away,’ he continued. ‘It has been an absolute disgrace of a quarter final. United were outfought. Outplayed. They were sloppy on the ball. They lacked aggression.’
Despite branding his players ‘unacceptable’ and not ‘good enough’ in Seville, he added: ‘We have to look forward to Sunday, that’s the next opportunity.
‘We showed in the past we can quickly bounce back. We have done it many times this season, but we have to start games better with more desire and more composure on the ball.
‘When you get the setback you have to deal with it and carry on. I had this question many times, after Manchester City (6-3), after Liverpool (7-0) and after Brentford (4-0), and every time we bounce back.
‘This team has character and mental skills, but sometimes we are not there. I think we have to accept that now. Everyone can see the demands and standard has to be higher in a club like Manchester United.’
Man Utd bow out of the Europa League against Sevilla ❌@RobbieSavage8 pulls no punches in his post-match assessment… 🗣️#UEL pic.twitter.com/GoD7ysJsSj
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
“If you’re a Man Utd player, you’ve got to be able to handle atmospheres like this! They lost to a team who are 13th in La Liga!”
“If they’ve got injuries, the squad probably isn’t strong enough.”
Paul Scholes tries to make sense of a nightmare evening in Seville 🔎#UEL pic.twitter.com/ZF9ehCEqRf
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
“He knows just by looking at that game tonight, probably that first 20 minutes… he needs better players to fill his squad.”
Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves believe that Man Utd’s defeat vs. Sevilla will have made up Erik ten Hag’s mind for the summer…#UEL pic.twitter.com/IuILwA4zMh
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
“David De Gea has been a fantastic goalkeeper… but he’s not a fantastic footballer.”
“Harry Maguire, I don’t know why he wants the ball!”
Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves look at how things went wrong for Man Utd early on in Seville 🔎
🎙️ @julesbreach #UEL pic.twitter.com/WHPWXIPJ5N
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
“I think he was making the whole team nervous!”
“It’s a question of: does he fit Erik ten Hag’s philosophy?”
Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves break down David De Gea’s performance vs. Sevilla and his future at Man Utd 🧤
🎙️ @julesbreach #UEL pic.twitter.com/cWZmlU5ZqS
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 20, 2023
Meanwhile, pundits and Ten Hag rip into Man Utd players after being knocked out of the Europa League by Sevilla…
@tommilnes89: The ‘squad’ isn’t good enough when compared to the likes of City. But everyone who played yesterday would be good enough to start for Sevilla and will get starting gigs at other teams as good or better so its not just that.
@DanSnowden: Scholes said they handled Forest – Maguire conceded a blatant pen that somehow wasn’t given – would they have won without that? Highly doubtful away from home without Rashford. They don’t have bent officials in European games and you can see they don’t know how to handle it
#Pundits #Ten #Hag #rip #Man #Utd #players #knocked #Europa #League #Sevilla
