'You have to feel it in your stomach' - Erik ten Hag explains why he made Man Utd players watch Man City lift FA Cup after final defeat

Erik ten Hag revealed he made his Manchester United players watch Manchester City lift the FA Cup to make them more determined to win next time

Ten Hag made players watch trophy lift
Dutch manager wanted more determination from his side
Admitted De Gea has to improve

WHAT HAPPENED? United's defeated players were forced to watch Ilkay Gundogan and the rest of the Manchester City team lift the FA Cup after beating the Red Devils 2-1 at Wembley on Saturday. Ten Hag said he wanted the players to experience the pain of losing the match in the hope they would be more determined to beat City the next time they play them.

WHAT THEY SAID: "Show respect, always but of course it's a motivation, you have to feel it in your stomach, it hurts," Ten Hag told a press conference. "It has to be fuel, our team, my players, [City] deserved it but you have to grab it and that is the next step we have to make."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The Dutch manager commended City for winning an edgy final and praised his side for staying in the match right until the end. But he was fiercely critical of his side for conceding both goals from set plays. "We have seen. We win together, we lose together, there were two moments, there were dead balls - one at kick-off and one from a wide free kick - they can't be a goal, we have to be better organised there," Ten Hag added. "As a team, we didn't do the jobs we had to do and if you want to win trophies, details in big games make the difference and it's hard to accept but we have to."

AND WHAT'S MORE: Ten Hag also admitted David de Gea could have done better to keep out each strike from Gundogan although he stopped short of criticising the Spaniard. "Say it like this: we are in the right direction. But there are occasions in the game, issues in the game we have to improve, definitely, if we want to make the next step and win trophies," he said. "In this moment, I don't want to talk about such issues of criticism because we played all a great season - including David de Gea, he played a fantastic season. You can tell we played a fantastic season and that is more than we could have expected than before. We were third in the league, we qualified for the Champions League, we won a trophy and we were in another final, so I am really happy with the performance of my team all over."

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