"We’ve been pulverised" - Rio Ferdinand sends message to Manchester United players after 'embarrassing' loss against Liverpool
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has shared what he thinks the Red Devils need to do following their hammering against arch-rivals Liverpool on March 5.
Erik ten Hag's side lost 7-0 at Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday (March 5). Gody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez bagged breaces while Roberto Firmino added another to secure a massive win for Liverpool.
It was certainly an embarrassing loss for Manchester United, their worst league defeat in 92 years. Ferdinand acknowledged the same but urged the players to move on and put in the work to recover from the loss. On his YouTube channel, the former centre-back said (via Metro):
"We’ve been pulverised. That was a massacre. An absolute massacre at Anfield. That’s all you can call it. The players will be feeling embarrassed. (Erik) ten Hag, man … If I was him, the team would know I would be upset, but one of the main points would be do not let this derail your season now."
He added:
"You come back in tomorrow; you get back to work; you look at what went wrong, and then you go to Southampton at Old Trafford. You make sure that you give the fans something to shout about after the embarrassment here at Anfield. All of you, sit there, and let that feeling sink in about how embarrassing and how bad it feels."
Seven-nil. A record-breaking evening for @LFC https://t.co/j4OyBrhf8q
Ferdinand stressed that Manchester United players need to make sure that the Liverpool loss doesn't affect their upcoming results. He said:
"We need to realise that (it won’t define our campaign), that’s what we’re having, a big debrief tomorrow (Monday) about the game, about what went wrong."
He concluded:
"We can’t let one result derail our whole season because I think we’re in a really good place, and I think this is another hurdle that we need to go over, and us, as a team, we’ll climb over that, and I think we’ll bounce back positively on Thursday night (against Real Betis). I’m sure of that."
Manchester United's upcoming fixtures after Liverpool defeat
The Red Devils will next feature in the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 when they host Real Betis on March 9 in the first leg.
They will then host Southampton in the Premier League three days later before travelling to Betis for the second leg of their Round of 16 tie on March 16.
The Reds are climbing 🆙 https://t.co/EXE6BDWmef
Manchester United are third in the Premier League, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand. Liverpool, meanwhile, are fifth, seven points behind Ten Hag's side.