What do you say when you’ve got just a few minutes to collect your thoughts after being dealt the biggest loss of your managerial career by your club’s fiercest rivals?
Luckily or unluckily, Erik ten Hag had been in similar situations prior to Liverpool’s 7-0 thumping of United. In 2015, his FC Utrecht side succumbed to a 7-1 mauling by PSV before his Ajax team fell to a 6-2 defeat to Feyenoord in 2019.
He was thrust into the spotlight again after August’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford just two games into his United tenure. There were echoes of his comments from then in the aftermath at Anfield. READ MORE: Four starting places up for grabs after Liverpool shambles “Unacceptable” was swapped for “unprofessional” while Ten Hag underlined on both occasions that his players had abandoned his plan.
He demonstrated both times that he can hit the right tone when it matters most - the fallout of Cristiano Ronaldo’s tantrum exit can be included within that.