Former Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, interviewed by Laurie Whitwell for The Atheltic:

“The team was not consistent,” says Ten Hag. “On our good day we could match the best teams in the league, in the world, I would even say. On the worst day, we sat below the bottom. And then in Liverpool, obviously, we went below the bottom, also mentality-wise. It was the next Premier League game after we won the League Cup. We were on the high; we went up there, maybe we were too confident, and we got punished. Every attack was a goal.”

But the game in which Ten Hag feels his reign changed was the quarter-final of the Europa League a month later, when United were knocked out 5-2 on aggregate by Sevilla, having been 2-0 up in the first leg. “The team couldn’t play without two players,” he says, naming Lisandro Martinez (Licha) and Bruno Fernandes.

“Licha was so important for us to play from the back, but also the winning mentality, winning duels. And Bruno. In that game (first leg), at 2-0 up, I decided to sub Bruno, 30 minutes from time, and then Lisandro broke his foot.”

Lisandro Martinez played 20 of 63 competitive matches when Ruben Amorim was manager.

This may surprise you but I watched every Manchester United match under Amorim.

With Andre Onana in goal, who cost them small games and big games, they desperately needed actual center-backs other than Matthijs De Ligt.