The manager of Manchester United, Eric Ten-Hag, has acknowledged that qualifying for the Champions League will be difficult and require a miracle.
After United’s 4-3 loss at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, the Dutchman acknowledged that they would likely need to win all eight of their remaining Premier League games to catch Tottenham and Aston Villa and advance to the Champions League.
Cole Palmer completed a spectacular hat-trick with two goals in the closing minutes of United’s match against Chelsea, five days after the team conceded an equalizer at Brentford due to injury. United had led 3-2 at that point.
Three weeks after their equally dramatic 4-3 FA Cup victory over their bitter rivals, Ten Hag urged his players to turn their suffering into an advantage as they prepared to face Liverpool once more.
‘We will be mad and angry, and you can take a lot of energy from that, and that is the way we have to do it,’ he said.
‘First, I have to deal with this, but we can’t deal with this long. We have to recover very quickly. We will be optimistic and looking forward because we need to turn this around. We have to take energy.’
After watching another wild match from the stands at Stamford Bridge with his new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, qualifying for the Champions League may be crucial to Ten Hag’s chances of keeping his job this summer.
However, with a game in hand over Villa and nine behind Spurs, United now trail both of their rivals by 11 points and have a significantly lower goal differential.
For United to have a chance, Ten Hag conceded that they will likely need to finish with a perfect league record between now and the end of the campaign.
‘I think so, yeah,’ he said. ‘In stoppage time this week, we have dropped five points. It’s very expensive. The points are getting more expensive because the games are running out and we know that.
‘We have to catch up and we are now many points behind, so it will be difficult. But we are going to keep fighting, and as you can see, our team is made up of decent people. They are resilient and I’m sure they will be there on Sunday, to be in the fight against Liverpool.’
In a match that Liverpool supporters have dubbed a “revenge,” Manchester United will take on league leaders Liverpool on Sunday, posing a formidable challenge.
