Erik ten Hag wants his Manchester United side to reclaim the backing of supporters after letting them down in Sunday's humiliating defeat by Liverpool.
United have been heading in the right direction under Ten Hag this season after already ending their six-year trophy drought. They are still in the race to win two more cups and are on course to finish in the top four and return to the Champions League. All that progress was easy to forget after losing 7-0 to their fiercest rivals though.
After being the better team in the opening 45 minutes at Anfield despite going in at the break behind, two quickfire goals at the start of the second half sparked a United meltdown. Two goals apiece for Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez as well as a Roberto Firmino strike condemned United to their joint-worst defeat in 92 years.
Read more: Martial returns to full training
United have a chance to redeem themselves immediately as they're back in action on Thursday with the visit of Real Betis in the first leg of the Europa League last-16 tie. Ten Hag wants his players to give the fans a reason to cheer them on again.
"It's about unity but we let them down on Sunday and we don't want to," Ten Hag told United's in-house media. "We are disappointed in that, we are disappointed in ourselves but we have seen the whole season we have a really strong bond and we have to keep that but the team has to give the first energy. Give the first action and then the crowd will be behind us.
"[It was a] big defeat and we are all disappointed - we were mad. Now we have to reset and bounce back. We need a win, but we play a very good opponent. We have to be ready for that. We are aware that when we play our best we have a good chance to win."
When asked how important experience in the squad will be to United getting back to winning ways, Ten Hag replied: "We all know [how important it is] and even we have a [lot of] experience with a lot of players who win a lot of trophies, [and] we know in seasons you always have setbacks.
"We know we have won a lot of games in a row and we had a really good run and we know losing is also a part of it. But you don't want to lose; we hate losing. And now we have to take the lessons and [start] a new run."
Read more:
