Erik ten Hag calls on Man United to stick together and bounce back from Liverpool hammering

Erik ten Hag admits that Manchester United made ‘a mess’ of Sunday’s humiliating 7-0 defeat at Liverpool but insists they will stick together and bounce back from the Anfield debacle.

The defeat was the joint heaviest in the club’s history as United collapsed in the second half, conceding six goals against their arch rivals.

Ten Hag’s side have a chance to get back to winning ways in Thursday night’s Europa League last 16 tie against Real Betis at Old Trafford.

Asked if the players had let him down on Sunday, Ten Hag said: ‘No, we are in the same boat. We win together, we lose together. We made a mess on Sunday and we have to deal with it.

‘We have to set conclusions, that’s what we did. We talked about it, we’ve seen it and set the right conclusions, then we have to rest and bounce back.

Erik ten Hag has called on Man United to stick together after their heavy defeat at Liverpool

United were torn apart in a seven-goal pasting at Anfield, the joint-heaviest loss in their history

‘The players reflected well. But we also know in a season that setbacks will always be there. It was a huge setback, that’s clear. When you’ve had a run of 23 games with one loss, that was the second, the way it was there were a lot of lessons in it, and that can help us for the future.

‘That’s the positive, how negative it is. We were really below average, especially mentally wise. We have to take the lesson. We want to win trophies, and you have to act differently.

‘After Sunday we got a big lesson. We take that and now we have to move on and look forward. That’s the way we treated it, all the energy, all the focus has to be on the next game.’