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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
SEVILLE, Spain — Erik ten Hag has accused his Manchester United players of lacking fight after they were dumped out of the Europa League by Sevilla.
United were beaten 3-0 at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium on Thursday, ending their hopes of a cup treble in Ten Hag’s first season in charge.
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Calamitous mistakes from Harry Maguire and David de Gea contributed to the result, but afterwards the furious Dutchman branded the entire performance as “unacceptable.”
“I have to acknowledge [the lack of fight] it’s the truth, it’s hard, it’s tough, it’s the truth and it can’t be — it’s unacceptable,” Ten Hag told a news conference.
“We showed in the past we can quickly bounce back, we have done it many times this season but we have to start games better, more desire, more composure on the ball. When you get the setback you have to deal with it and carry on.
“Tonight we were not good enough. It was obvious, it was clear. We did not match the standards you can expect from a Manchester United team.”
Both Maguire and De Gea made costly errors which led to goals with Maguire caught on the ball after just eight minutes and De Gea failing to deal with a routine long ball forward.
De Gea could have also done better with Loic Bade‘s header which found the net just after half-time but afterward Ten Hag defended his goalkeeper.
“He’s the one with the most clean sheets in the Premier League, that shows he’s a very capable goalkeeper,” he said.
United need to bounce back quickly from the disappointment in Spain as they prepare for an FA Cup semifinal against Brighton at Wembley on Sunday.
Ten Hag’s team also face a crucial game in the race for the top four against Tottenham on Thursday.
The United manager said: “I already started but we have to pick them up. We also have to face that we let ourselves down, we let the fans down. If you want to win trophies, if you want to be successful, you need character.”
