Manchester United supervisor Erik ten Hag labelled Carabao Cup remaining opponents Newcastle “annoying”, warning his gamers and Sunday’s officers to be cautious of their supposed time-wasting antics.
All eyes shall be on Wembley on Sunday afternoon because the Red Devils look to finish their six-year anticipate a trophy towards the success-starved Magpies, who haven’t gained a trophy since 1969.
Ten Hag is happy for the event and this early shot at silverware, however the United boss will not be taking Eddie Howe’s facet evenly and urged there might be some gamesmanship from Newcastle.
“I think it’s a great team with a clear philosophy about how they want to play the game,” Ten Hag stated. “The key word is intensity.
“They do really well. They’re an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win. They try to annoy you. We have to make sure that we play our game and we focus on our game.”
It was an eye catching remark that was adopted up by a message to referee David Coote – the sort of thoughts video games Sir Alex Ferguson, who the Dutchman had dinner with this week, used to make earlier than huge video games.
Asked if his “annoying” remark was in reference to time-wasting ways, Ten Hag stated: “For instance. The referees want to play effective time. They have the lowest in the league and they are quite successful with it.
“So, it’s up to us that we get speed in the game but also we are then dependent on the refereeing as well.”
Opta stats present that Leeds have had the ball in play marginally lower than Newcastle over the course of the Premier League season.
The sports activities information firm additionally stated the ball was ‘in-play’ for 53.4 per cent of the match when United had been held to a 0-0 draw by Newcastle at Old Trafford in October.
Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope has been accused of slowing the sport down and shall be absent by way of suspension at Wembley, the place ex-Liverpool man Loris Karius is about to come back in for his debut.
“I’m not in the instructions of the opponents, so I don’t know (if Newcastle will miss Pope),” Ten Hag stated. “Also, I can’t influence that.
“I can only influence (our team). We have to make it our game, so focus on the job we have to do, focus on playing football when the ball is in the game. It’s about that, so fully concentrated on that.
“Don’t get distracted from what can be, whatever is on the pitch. We have to focus on the job and find our way and finds the moments where we can strike.”
United head to Wembley buoyed by Thursday’s spectacular 2-1 comeback victory towards Barcelona, seeing them by way of a troublesome Europa League knockout play-off tie 4-3 winners on combination.
Now comes the prospect for Ten Hag to win a trophy in his first season on the helm like Jose Mourinho did in 2017, when Europa League glory adopted a League Cup triumph within the February.
“It’s a great opportunity to get the silverware in,” Ten Hag stated of Sunday. “It’s all about that glory and honour in football and we deserve to play the final and we have a great opportunity to win the cup and we have to do everything to get that cup to Manchester. You feel it.
“The fans are really waiting for it and so we do everything we can to give the fans their honour.”