Erik ten Hag has hit back at Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk after the centre-back made some ill-advised comments following the 0-0 draw at Anfield earlier on Sunday.
Liverpool went into the game as heavy favourites but Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled to break United down and in the end, United came closer to scoring the winning goal.
The spoils were shared in a United game for the first time in the Premier League this season but Van Dijk was riled up way beyond the full-time whistle.
First, a report claimed the Netherlands star aimed a cheeky dig at goalkeeper Andre Onana in the tunnel. Not long after, Van Dijk’s comments in his post-match interview, where he claimed Liverpool were the only side interested in winning, were slammed by Roy Keane.
Now, Ten Hag has hit back at Van Dijk’s comments himself, reminding the former Celtic defender that United had the better chances after 90 minutes.
“It’s his opinion,” Ten Hag is quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News.
“We should have taken more of the ball regains three or four passes in where we are capable of and then we could have even hurt the opponent even more.
“But all over in the end, you have to conclude, we had the best chances from open play for Rasmus Hojlund and Garnacho.
“After the ball regains, we know they have a strong counter press but we need to keep the ball again, three or four passes in, get a switch in. And in such moments you can hurt them like we did with the chances for Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund in the second half.”
Van Dijk certainly hasn’t created a good look of himself in his post-match media duties and considering how one-sided the pre-match predictions were, perhaps he should be more disappointed with his team’s performance.
United won’t be complaining, however, as the result is a big building block in Ten Hag’s quest to restore some belief after a highly turbulent week.
The Reds are out of Europe for the season and have just Premier League and FA Cup games to play for the remainder of the campaign.
For the first time since taking over, Ten Hag’s men will have a full week of rest between most games and that will allow the Dutchman to get to work for real.
