Erik ten Hag expressed his “pride” in the Manchester United players for their performance in the 0-0 draw against Liverpool.
United put an end to their recent losing streak with a commendable point at Anfield, where Liverpool faced their first failure to secure a victory this season.
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In their preceding two home encounters, Liverpool had dominated United with scores of 4-0 and 7-0, leading to expectations of another convincing win.
However, United, in a noteworthy feat, became the second team this calendar year to keep Jurgen Klopp’s side from scoring at home.
“I said that after the game in the dressing room: I’m very proud of this team,” Ten Hag said. “We should do this more often. I said this.
“For instance, Newcastle was also a tough game, we make one mistake, we switch off and concede the goal.
“But when you stay in the game, when you are disciplined in your game plan, finally it opens up and you can take your chances or get two, three, four passes in after the ball regains, get the switches in and then you can really be more dominant in the game.
“We mentioned [the 7-0] but I said to them last year we played them three times, we lost one time but we beat them two times. We are capable of beating Liverpool and we proved today we are capable of if we bring this every game on the pitch.
“First of all, we are a hard team to beat but from that point, we can go and win games and also big games.”
Ten Hag also praised Kobbie Mainoo’s capacity to “cause problems for opponents” in just his third start in the Premier League.
Mainoo took his place in the midfield alongside Sofyan Amrabat and played a key role in initiating two of United’s more promising attacks.
Mainoo had made his complete Premier League debut just three weeks earlier against Everton at Goodison Park, where he was named the man of the match.
The FA Youth Cup winner showcased his impressive skills once again, this time on the opposite side of Stanley Park.
“When you are good enough, you are old enough and he proved that,” Ten Hag stressed. “When he gets used more often in those games, he will get even more joy from it.
“With his skill, with his speed of action he can get such passes, three or four passes in and get switches in and then he’s the player who can really hurt opponents.”
