Erik ten Hag believes his ‘mad and angry’ Manchester United players can use the pain of their incredible defeat at Chelsea to bounce back and beat Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The Dutchman admitted that United will probably have to win all eight of their remaining Premier League games to have a chance of catching Tottenham and Aston Villa to qualify for the Champions League after they lost 4-3 at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
Five days after conceding an injury-time equaliser at Brentford, United led 3-2 in the 98th minute against Chelsea only to see Cole Palmer complete a sensational hat-trick with two late goals.
As they prepare to meet Liverpool again, three weeks after an equally dramatic 4-3 FA Cup win over their arch rivals, Ten Hag called on his players to use their pain as a positive.
‘We will be mad and angry, and you can take a lot of energy from that, and that is the way we have to do it,’ he said.
‘First, I have to deal with this, but we can’t deal with this long. We have to recover very quickly. We have to turn this around, so we will be in a positive mood, looking forwards. We have to take energy.’
Qualifying for the Champions League could be critical to Ten Hag’s hopes of keeping his job this summer after new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford witnessed another crazy game from the stands at Stamford Bridge.
But United are now 11 points behind Villa with a game in hand and nine behind Spurs, with a far inferior goal difference to both their rivals.
Ten Hag acknowledged that United will probably need a 100 per cent league record between now and the end of the season to give themselves a chance.
‘I think so, yeah,’ he said. ‘In stoppage time this week, we have dropped five points. It’s very expensive. The points are getting more expensive because the games are running out and we know that.
‘We have to catch up and we are now many points behind, so it will be difficult. But we will keep fighting and I’m sure you see, our team, they have character. They are resilient and I’m sure they will be there on Sunday, to be in the fight against Liverpool.’
On his team’s capitulation at Chelsea, Ten Hag added: ‘We have qualities. We have great players. We can play very high standards. You can see against Liverpool and Chelsea. We can compete with and we can beat the best teams in the Premier League.
‘When you do it in the Premier League, you can do it across Europe. But we need to learn now how to win games.
‘It was an example (against Chelsea). Saturday (at Brentford) was an example, how you win big games. It’s an example of how to get a big game over line and get three points. We have to step up. We have to make better decisions, individually and as a team.’
