Ten Hag defiant ahead of Anfield challenge
Erik ten Hag insists Manchester United have a clean slate and clear heads ahead of Sunday's game away to Liverpool, and will not be hampered by any hangover from last season's heavy defeat there.
The scoreline at Anfield back in March was inevitably raised by reporters attending Ten Hag's pre-match press conference at Carrington this afternoon, and while the manager acknowledged it could not be ignored, he declared this weekend's instalment of English football's greatest rivalry is its own separate entity.
"It was a bad experience," he admitted. "But [Sunday's game] is not similar, you start again at 0-0.
"Last season, in the first half, I think we played very decent. But we got hammered just after half-time [when Darwin Nunez made it 2-0] and then we collapsed. That can't happen but that was last year. It was a different team with some different players.
"It is in the past. We can change the future and Sunday is a new game.''
Part one: Press conference v Liverpool
Press conference part one | Get the latest news and views from Erik ten Hag, ahead of Sunday’s trip to Anfield…
United will go into the clash without the suspended Bruno Fernandes, the injured Harry Maguire - a double Player of the Month winner in November - and Anthony Martial, as well as longer-term absentees such as Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. But Ten Hag says he still has enough options to select a side that is capable of beating the current Premier League leaders.
"We are preparing the team in the best way we can," said the boss."We have to fight, we have to challenge and we have to go there with the idea [of winning].
"We are confident we can put out a team who can win there."
As for the bigger picture beyond the Liverpool game, Erik had some defiant and upbeat answers about a so-far difficult campaign in which United have now bowed out of European competition.
He refuted a Dutch journalist's notion that it is a "more complex" workplace than his previous club.
"It is similar, it is not complex," he said. "At Ajax, you have to win, and here you have to win, always.
"It is the demands and for those demands, you can never run away. I never run away.
"I have an obligation to win every game because our squad is good enough.
"The players in the squad are good enough for me to put out a team to win every game.''
"We are here in a project. Last season, we were absolutely in the right direction but in the project here right now, we haven't matched the standards we expect to have. That is the truth.
"We have had a setback, but we can still do everything to win this season. I am sure when the injured players are getting back, the team will perform better.
"In the longer term, the future at Manchester United is very good, if you see how many good players we have in this squad.
"We have many good young players here in the squad, who have a really high potential to play at the top level worldwide. We have to develop that."