Manchester United fans have just been given another reason to take to social media to express their displeasure at the state of the club after their manager, Erik ten Hag, downplayed the upcoming FA Cup final.
The Red Devils narrowly escaped being knocked out at the semi-finals against Coventry City last weekend thanks to a penalty shootout victory. The part of the win which irks fans the most is that Coventry came back from three goals down to score four goals but VAR ruled out one and forced them to penalties.
The fallout of that game is still being felt but ten Hag is ready to move past that. He is now focused on helping United finish in the top six so that they can at least play in the UEFA Europa League. United’s next league game is against Sheffield United after which they’ll play Burnley, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and Brighton, which is their last game of the league season.
Erik ten Hag will then face Manchester City in the final of the FA Cup to round off the 2023/24 season.
While the match against City is still far away, it presents their only chance of winning a trophy after another disappointing outing. This is why the former AFC Ajax Amsterdam manager’s comments in the build up to Sheffield can easily irritate fans who are already losing confidence in him.
What has been said
Asked about the outing against the EFL Championship side last weekend in the FA Cup and what he looks forward to in the coming weeks, ten Hag said: “Yeah. So it is. So it’s a big achievement. Before we said it’s a big opportunity, especially after all the setbacks and the injuries and the problems.”
“The issues off-field we have had, it is a big achievement. We have an opportunity to go for silverware and we will put everything in to get the silverware and to lift the cup.”
Then speaking about his Premier League run before the FA Cup final, he said: “Win [all the matches]. And, in football, it’s about the result and about winning. And we have now two opportunities to go into Europe and one is through the league and one is through the cup final.”
“So, yeah, make sure we’re collecting enough points in the league first, because that’s the first opportunity, and then the FA Cup final. We bury that now, for now. We have to refocus and we go into the last week. But, for now, all the focus has to be on the league.”
