Erik ten Hag pinpoints 2 reasons Man Utd beat Brighton in FA Cup semi final
Erik ten Hag has insisted that Man Utd's 'determination and resilience' was the reason for their FA Cup semi final triumph on Sunday.
The Red Devils were second-best for much of the clash with Brighton and Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium, relying on the goalkeeping prowess of David de Gea and the back four's impressing showing to see them through to a penalty shootout they would win 7-6.
In general, the performance was much, much improved from Man Utd's disaster-class against Sevilla in the Europa League on Thursday evening - something which Ten Hag was keen to point out during his post-match interview with BBC Sport:
"On Thursday I saw a team I didn't recognise but today we went back to usual. I could see determination and resilience. We fought for every yard and competed in every battle. We had good chances."
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Ten Hag also took the time to praise both Victor Lindelof - who scored the winning penalty - and De Gea - who was Man Utd's best player - after the win. Speaking about Lindelof, the manager said:
"He is quite cool when it comes to penalties and he's quite cool in general. I thought Victor and Luke Shaw played brilliantly. They had great co-operation with Casemiro."
When discussing De Dea, Ten Hag said he was impressed by his ability to bounce back from Thursday's much-derided showing in Spain: "I was very impressed with him. He made some brilliant saves. It hurt when he made mistakes on Thursday.
"Often when you make mistakes as a keeper you get punished. We let him down, we didn't fight back for him. We bounced back today though."
Man Utd will face off against crosstown rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final on Saturday 3rd June.