“If they want a quick game coming here, let’s f*****g give it to them” – How Eddie Howe responded to Manchester United boss Ten Hag’s complaint
Eddie Howe ordered his Newcastle United players to "f****** give it" to Manchester United ahead of their league meeting in April this year, according to footage released by Amazon Prime.
The two teams met in the EFL Cup final on February 26, when Manchester United took home the title thanks to a 2-0 win, courtesy of goals from Marcus Rashford and Casemiro. Ahead of that fixture, Erik ten Hag called Newcastle an "annoying" team and questioned their time-wasting tactics.
"It's a great team with a clear philosophy about how they want to play the game. 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 we play our game and focus on our game," he said.
Motivated by the Dutchman's words and the Carabao Cup final defeat, Howe ensured his players were out to get revenge when they locked horns in a league fixture in April.
Ahead of the launch of an Amazon Prime documentary on Newcastle, a trailer was released in which Howe can be seen motivating his side in his pre-match speech.
"If they want a quick game coming here, let's f****** give it to them. Let's blow them away with our running. Let's be intense with every action we do. Let's make it a quick game. Let's go," he told his players.
Newcastle hosted the Red Devils at St James' Park on April 2. Motivated by Howe's words, the Magpies took all three points after second-half goals from Joe Willock and Callum Wilson saw the home side register a 2-0 win.
Erik ten Hag on young Manchester United team's pre-season defeat to Wrexham: "We're disappointed with ourselves"
Manchester United lost 3-1 to Wrexham AFC at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on Tuesday, July 25.
The Red Devils put out a very young team, with Jonny Evans the only veteran and just three players from United's first-team tour group (Alvaro Fernandez, Dan Gore, and Hannibal Mejbri).
Erik ten Hag, who oversaw the defeat to the newly promoted League Two side, expressed his disappointment with the result in his post-match interview.
"It's always disappointing. We're disappointed with ourselves. The way we played in the first half was a little bit erratic. We lacked structure. We had some other objectives (that we didn't reach)," he said.
The Dutchman, however, stated that the experience will have given the youngsters valuable experience.
"But they are young players. We have to learn from it, and I'm sure they will. That (a physical battle) is what happens in top football, definitely in the Premier League, and our players have to get used to it," he said.
Manchester United will next face Real Madrid in a mouthwatering pre-season clash at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday, July 26. The contest will get underway at 7:30 pm local time.