Ten Hag proud of his spot-on Reds
Erik ten Hag was pleased with his Manchester United side's response to Thursday's Europa League exit, as a penalty shootout success earned the Reds a place in the Emirates FA Cup final.
Ten Hag's men drew 0-0 with Brighton & Hove Albion, going closest to breaking the deadlock through Marcus Rashford in extra-time, but triumphed 7-6 on spot-kicks, with Victor Lindelof ruthlessly punishing Solly March's miss.
The boss spoke to all the official broadcasters at Wembley, including the BBC and MUTV, in addition to holding a press conference with journalists. This is a selection of what he had to say...
Erik: We showed character
Ten Hag credits his team for the spirit shown to win the semi-final, before outlining what "must be our next step"...
A BATTLE WITH BRIGHTON
"It was a difficult game. I think it was a great battle for the fans, especially for the fans at home. It was a great final. In the end, the penalties were really good as well. It was so close and, of course, I am very happy with the performance of the team. They were so determined, so dominant to win this game and from the first moment, there was only one thing in mind. We have to win this game. So the willingness was really high.”
BOUNCING BACK
“It [criticism] was justified on Thursday night but, today, the lads deserve compliments and credit because they bounced back once again, they showed character. What we have to learn and improve, which must be our next step, is that if we have a setback in a game, we fight back in that same game, that we keep calm and fight back in that same game. We have to deal with setbacks and we can do it better but in between games, and it’s not the first time, we do it very well."
PRACTISING PENALTIES
“Of course, we practice penalties. We’ve been doing it all season. We have taken penalties in the Premier League. And when we have them, we score them. It's part of professional football. It’s a part of especially English football with so many cups and the cups are important to us – we want to win every game. When you can’t decide it in normal time or extra-time, the penalties are the decision-maker and we did very well. All the penalties were brilliant."
CREDIT TO BRIGHTON
“A very good team. They were so brave. In possession, very difficult to get the press on them. But there was a lot of space behind the final third.”
How did scoring in the shootout feel?
Diogo Dalot talks us through taking a penalty in our FA Cup semi-final shootout against Brighton...
DE GEA'S RESILIENCE
“I think he had two brilliant saves and but know that he’s a world-class keeper. Thursday, he had a really bad day on the office, and it hurt. Really bad [day in the] office I have seen, but it’s always when you are the keeper and you make mistakes often you get penalised, but it doesn’t mean that we have to go under. And also, we as a team, we let him down and we didn’t fight back on Thursday night."
CITY IN THE FINAL
"We have proof that we can beat them but then we have to play the perfect game. That was the most perfect game we played this season [winning the derby in January] but we have to go again. We know that but, first of all, we have to focus on different games because we have to be in the top four, to get into the Champions League for next season."
SPURS NEXT
“The final is not that far away but there are some weeks in between and we have to develop and improve, go from game to game. Thursday night is another big game in London and then we gave to be ready for the next one."