The final of the 2024 English FA Cup will be an all-Manchester affair for the second consecutive season. This time, with Manchester United finishing 8th in the league, winning the FA Cup is the club’s only realistic hope of making it into Europe next season.
For Manchester City, a spot was secured in next season’s edition of the UEFA Champions League long before the season ended. If the blue half of Manchester wins the FA Cup, it will be another feather on Guardiola’s already illustrious cap, and it will mean the red half of Manchester would play next season without competing in Europe for the first time since the 2014–15 season.
Ten Hag Angry With Pundits In Interview
During his post-match interview before the FA Cup final against Manchester City, the Manchester United manager took a shot at English pundits who were always attacking him, his players and his tactics. He called them people trying to prove they were worth their salaries by always attacking the club.
He went on to say Manchester United was hated because of their caliber as the biggest club in England. He said success attracts both hatred and love, and that “there is no in-between”.
“So when things go bad, they all start talking and talking with very big words. All this negativism from these so called experts who don’t have the capability to analyze something with facts, but who prefer to attack people to make themselves look better.”
Erik Ten Hag also took shots at their consistency, saying they were the same people who supported him last year when he was successful.
“Last year I was able to walk on water, this year I am the worst manager in the Premier League!”
Ten Hag’s On His Manchester United Future
The Manchester United manager is confident that despite rumors making the rounds that he will be sacked after the FA Cup final regardless of the outcome, he’d remain in charge of Manchester United.
“INEOS told me that they want to change everything and that they want to rebuild WITH me. This is what they told me directly.”
The Manchester United manager has repeatedly alluded to having a good working relationship with the new club owners, INEOS. In his latest interview, he stated that INEOS had plans to make transformations in the club. One of those transformations happens to be the club’s training ground at Carrington.
Ten Hag Talks Injuries And Summer Transfers
Like Chelsea, Manchester United has suffered from multiple injuries all through the season. This has been a major part of the club’s problem which led to a difficult season. This season, injuries have made the Dutch manager use 15 different centre back duos.
“I have had 33 different defensive lines this season! Sofyan Amrabat had to play left back 4 times. We have had injuries all over the pitch. Casemiro has been out for a long time. Rasmus Hojlund, the striker we bought, suffered from 3 injuries and I can keep going on and on. This is the core story of our season.”
Luke Shaw, who he claims to be “the best left back in the world” had an injury at the genesis of his career which is the reason why he struggles to play up to 60 games per season due to reoccurrence.
He also talked about Luke Shaw’s replacement, Tyrell Malacia, who missed the entire season due to injury. For today’s game against Manchester City, Harry Maguire will also be unavailable due to injury.
Looking forward to next season, Erik Ten Hag hopes Manchester United will sign an extra striker in the summer along with a central midfielder and a defender to replace the departing Raphael Varane.
About the Author
Ebenezer has been an avid writer for over a decade and a half. Within that period, he has garnered experience in various fields such as editing, graphics design, transcribing, sales, data analysis, and football management. He’s also the author of the mystery thriller novel “The Eye of Ra.”
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