Man Utd knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup after a dramatic encounter at Old Trafford. Erik ten Hag was in a bullish mood when giving his thoughts on the game.
Erik ten Hag has boldly claimed Manchester United ‘can beat anyone’ following his side’s FA Cup win over Liverpool. United ended the Reds’ hopes of a quadruple this season after winning a dramatic quarter-final tie 4-3 at Old Trafford.
Liverpool had taken the lead twice in the game, including in extra time. But goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Harvey Elliott wouldn’t prove to be enough to secure a return to Wembley for the semi-finals.
Instead, Marcus Rashford and Amad Diallo both struck in the final 15 minutes to send United through, where they will face Championship side Coventry City. Ten Hag was in a bullish mood when speaking about the result to reporters.
“This could be that moment where we get the belief, the energy that we can do amazing things,” said Ten Hag (via Sky Sports). “I think that if we can beat Liverpool the way we did, we can beat anyone.”
Speaking to ITV, Ten Hag added: “I’ve said for many weeks we have a team for the future that’s very good. You can see the potential. The first 35 minutes I think was the best minutes from our season. We were really there, acting as a team.
“But then gaps in between the lines and you can’t allow this against Liverpool. Then they outplay you. And also after half-time, it continues.
“We had to change. We went into the risk, we went into one against one, and the players were wonderful — the mentality, the attitude was so great. They had strong belief to win this game. We went for it and we got it.”
Liverpool.com says: Come on Erik. You can’t really think that’s the turning point for your side, can you?
The truth is, if Liverpool had done what it should have in the second half and made more of the chances it had on the break, it would have been a completely different result. You can’t imagine Manchester City or Arsenal would have let them get away with the amount of space they left in the middle of the park, and you’d like to think Liverpool won’t when they meet them again in a few weeks.
Of course, United has every right to enjoy its victory, and given its opposition in the next round, it should reach the final. They’re still giving up a ridiculous amount of chances though, and that cannot be sustainable.
