Erik ten Hag singles out Willy Kambwala’s titanic efforts in pulsating draw with Liverpool – Man United News And Transfer News

7

Manchester United roared back in the second half to secure a 2-2 draw with Liverpool.

While the result does little for United’s Champions League hopes, the Red Devils will hope that the four points they have taken off the Merseysiders this campaign will be enough to stop Jurgen Klopp from winning the Premier League in his final season at Anfield.

The Red Devils put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance as they were awful in the first half, having no shots while allowing Liverpool to attempt 15.

However, they were lucky to only be 0-1 down at half time and two moments of individual brilliance put Erik ten Hag’s men into a shock lead.

A lazy tackle by Aaron Wan-Bissaka gave Mo Salah the chance to equalise but United held on and almost secured the winner with a late Antony shot.

Asked to sum up his feelings on the match by BBC’s Match of the Day, Erik ten Hag said he had “very mixed emotions.”

“On one side I am disappointed that we have dropped seven points in one week after being in winning positions, but we have to blame ourselves for making stupid mistakes. On the other side I am very proud.”

“You see how we are improving and the potential of this squad is amazing – I am proud. In decisive areas we were losing battles especially with young players we were not confident to win them [duels]. We encouraged in the second half to do better and they stepped up”.

The Dutchman was then asked about his side’s league position of sixth and finding themselves so far adrift of both Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa.

He responded, “I don’t know, We will keep fighting and we have to do the same and learn from the moments. Brentford was our worst performance, we didn’t deserve to win there.”

The former Ajax boss also singled out 19 year old Willy Kambwala for his contribution to the match.

“He has been training a while with us and progressing well. The next generation need to step in and he is doing brilliant. The challenge for him is doing it consistently. Great opportunity for him and we have other options like bringing Casemiro in at centre-half, but today he deserved it and he showed it on the pitch”.

The Red Devils remain 11 points behind Aston Villa in fourth place with seven games left of the Premier League season.

Next up for Ten Hag’s team is an away trip to the south coast of England to take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium next Saturday evening.

Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.