Erik ten Hag believes Manchester United’s stoppage-time defeat to Chelsea will leave them “mad and angry” ahead of Liverpool’s visit on Sunday.
United led 3-2 in the 99th minute of Thursday’s game after Cole Palmer converted a penalty, and the player’s 101st-minute strike sealed victory for Chelsea.
The defeat leaves United 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and nine points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Liverpool will lead by two points with eight games remaining. United knocked Jurgen Klopp’s side out of the FA Cup last month and beat them at Old Trafford in the league last season. The Ten Witches were asked how they could achieve their third victory.
“First I have to deal with this problem,” he said of the Chelsea incident, “but we can’t deal with this problem for too long. We have to recover as quickly as possible. We have to turn the situation around, so from Friday we will keep the positive mood, And looking forward. We have to take the energy. We get angry, we get angry, you get a lot of energy out of it, and that’s the way we have to do it.”
Before losing to Chelsea in stoppage time, United conceded a 99th-minute equalizer from Christopher Ajer in a 1-1 draw with Brentford.
“In stoppage time this week we conceded five points – that was very expensive,” Ten Hag said. “Points are becoming more and more expensive because the game is coming to an end and we know that. We have to catch up and now we are many points behind so it will be difficult.”
United had come back from 2-0 down at Chelsea to take the lead until a dramatic turn of events that left the manager feeling inspired. “We will keep fighting and I’m sure you see: our team, they have character. We saw an example of that today too. They are resilient and I’m sure they will play against Liverpool on Sunday.
“We have quality. We have great players. We can play to a very high level. You will see against Liverpool [Chelsea]. We can compete with and beat the best teams in the Premier League. When you do it in the Premier League, you can do it across Europe. But we now need to learn how to win games. We must step up. We have to make better decisions, individually and as a team. “
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Ten Hague removed Marcus Rashford from the squad and brought him on after 66 minutes, but the striker failed to make an impact.
“His condition is improving recently,” Ten Witches said. “He has a lot of motivation because he wants to succeed with us… He wants to compete for Champions League places and the European Championships are coming up. So his motivation should be high. Before Brentford, he was in three games Three goals were scored in the game.”
