‘I will never accept it’: Ten Hag tells United to give more against Brighton

Erik ten Hag has insisted Brighton will face a different Manchester United in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final from the one they came up against on the opening day of the season. That encounter ended in a 2-1 defeat for United at Old Trafford and Ten Hag is proud of the progress his players have made since then, but admits they still have “steps to go” in building a winning mentality.

Ten Hag leads United into a second domestic semi-final still furious with how they performed in their Europa League quarter-final second leg against Sevilla on Thursday. He reiterated his view that the 3-0 loss – which led United to exit the competition 5-2 on aggregate – was “unacceptable”, mainly because of how the team capitulated after going behind inside eight minutes to Youssef En-Nesyri’s first of two goals at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.

“I was really mad,” Ten Hag said. “If you play a quarter-final in the Europa League you give everything and we didn’t. For any club, for any team, that is unacceptable. As a manager I can’t accept that my team is not giving its best. I will never accept it. I make them [the players] aware what my feelings about the game were; that they didn’t match the standards [I expect].

“I hope everyone sees that we have made progress [since the opening day of the season]. We are a different team now. And none of the team will always play at the highest level, but even if you don’t play the highest level you still have to win. That is what we have to learn: how to deal with setbacks in a game. We have to carry on, we have to stick to the plan, we have to stick to the game and we have to keep the confidence. So yes, we have steps to go.”

Ten Hag is prepared “to teach” his players how to have a stronger winning