‘They can f**king play football’

Erik ten Hag claims Man Utd “can f**king play football” after they produced a great performance to beat Liverpool 2-1 on Monday night.

The Red Devils were the better team for much of the game as Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford gave them a two-goal lead before a late effort from Mo Salah made it an uncomfortable nine minutes plus stoppage time.

Man Utd lost their first two Premier League matches under Ten Hag with Brighton beating them 2-1 on the opening weekend and Brentford inflicting an embarrassing 4-0 demolition on them a week later.

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But they produced a much-improved display for Ten Hag against Liverpool and the Dutchman was so pleased after the match he decided to drop an “F-bomb” as Sky Sports presenter Dave Jones described it.

The Man Utd boss told Sky Sports: “You can see what they can achieve. They can f**king play football.”

Ten Hag added: “We can talk about tactical but it is all about attitude. There was communication and a fighting spirit.

“I wanted a different approach and a different attitude and that is what they brought on the pitch. It is only a start. We can play with much more composure and much more danger. Be a team and have a good spirit – and that is what we saw today.

“It is not always about what I said. I said we have to act and not to talk a lot and make sure you are a team and battle and be brave and give each other options.

“It makes me happy that Rashford and Sancho got the goals. Fernandes took the responsibility and the captaincy encouraged him. He showed leadership with Varane. They made a huge difference. It is not just them; we need more leaders. When you want to win you need leaders and the spirit we showed today.

“I am happy with the performance but we have to bring it every game. Don’t just bring it against Liverpool. Every Premier League game is difficult, we need to bring it to every game. It starts, once again, with the spirit.

“I have a squad and we have to use the squad. We play 50-60 games, from game-to-game we will see what team we will pick. I don’t have to mention Maguire and Ronaldo – they are amazing players and they will play a role in the future and the short-term future as well.

“We have the right players, I am convinced of that. The window is not closed and you need numbers and also quality.”