‘We won, after City, the most trophies – I’m sorry for you’: Defiant Erik ten Hag gets into fiery exchange with Mail Sport reporter as he defends Man United reign after latest Liverpool embarrassment

Erik ten Hag got into a heated exchange with a report from Mail Sport when he defended his team after their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.

The Red Devils were outclassed by their arch-rivals on a difficult day at Old Trafford, with Luiz Diaz scoring twice before Mohamed Salah secured victory after a lacklustre performance from the home side.

After the game, Ten Hag defended his team, saying they have “players to work with this season”, that his team “will perform well” and that they have “a great chance of winning another trophy” at the end of the season, although he admitted that they still have some improvements to make.

Following the Dutchman’s comments, Mail Sport’s football editor Ladyman asked the Dutchman what made him so sure that ‘it’s the players who are the problem, not the coaching’.

Ten Hag shot back: ‘What do you mean? Tell me then, maybe you can explain to me what mistakes we regularly make?

Ten Hag’s side were outclassed by their arch-rivals and looked poor in a 3-0 home defeat

The 3-0 defeat leaves United 14th in the league, having also lost 2-1 to Brighton the previous week.

Ten Hag fired back at Ladyman after the Mail Sport football editor asked the Dutchman what convinced him that the players are the problem and not his coaching

Ladyman then listed the mistakes United make: ‘Constantly losing the ball in your own half, playing the ball from the back, getting ambushed, getting chances from the back, countering when outnumbered, giving away chances endlessly.’

Ten Hag asked if Ladyman was ‘definite’, to which the Mail Sport reporter replied ‘absolutely’.

The Dutchman added: ‘I don’t think we would win such prizes and beat such big opponents otherwise. I feel bad for you.’

Ladyman then remarked: ‘With all due respect, you did a great job against Manchester City in the final, you nearly lost to Coventry in the semi-final. Come on, let’s look realistically at what happened.’

Ten Hag repeated his words: ‘I think we, after City, have won the most trophies in English football, so I feel sorry for you.’

The Dutchman’s claims are correct, as they have won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup since his arrival in the summer of 2022.

Last season, however, United finished eighth in the league and were knocked out in the group stage of the Champions League.

It is not the first time that a heated exchange of words has arisen between Ten Hag and Ladyman. This also happened earlier after the FA Cup final.

Ten Hag defended his record by saying they have won the most trophies after Man City since his arrival

Ten Hag’s pride comes despite them recording their worst ever Premier League performance last season and being knocked out in the group stages of the Champions League last season

Liverpool secured an impressive victory with two goals from Luis Diaz and one from Mo Salah

Arne Slot took three points on his first trip to Old Trafford since replacing Jurgen Klopp

After United’s 2-1 win over Man City at Wembley, Ten Hag stressed during his press conference that United were exactly where he wanted them to be.

However, Ladyman pushed back, pointing out that the Red Devils had recorded their worst ever performance in the Premier League era.

Ten Hag responded at the time: ‘If you do something like that, you unfortunately have no knowledge of football and managing a football team.

“If you don’t have the right players and you can’t perform, it’s that simple. If that’s your opinion, then it’s not a problem. I’ll go somewhere else and keep winning trophies.”

Ladyman replied: ‘That performance today, I know you had players, the organisation, the tactics etc. were very good, but we haven’t seen much of an Erik ten Hag team this season and that’s your responsibility, whoever you have on the pitch, right?

United’s owners decided to stick with Ten Hag after a poor season – saved by the FA Cup – but will be unhappy after the Red Devils lost two of their first three league games

Ten Hag stressed again: ‘Then you don’t understand how to manage a football career. If players are not there, I can’t train and coach them, so they can’t perform, they can’t develop and they can’t get the results we want.’

There is a lot of pressure on Ten Hag this season after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS decided to keep the Dutchman following their FA Cup final victory in May.

United spent around £200million this summer on the signings of Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui.

However, they did not have the best start to the season, losing to Brighton and Liverpool, while Zirkzee secured the three points in the 87th minute in the season opener against Fulham.