Erik ten Hag’s previous comments about Newcastle United came back to bite him on Wednesday night.
The Manchester United manager branded Eddie Howe’s side as “annoying” earlier this year but Newcastle were able to gain revenge on the Carabao Cup final defeat by romping to a 3-0 fourth-round victory at Old Trafford.
Miguel Almiron, Lewis Hall and Joe Willock scored the goals on a powerful display for the club even despite Howe making a raft of changes.
Indeed, one journalist even noticed ten Hag’s reaction when Almiron opened the scoring.
Man United vs Newcastle: What Erik ten Hag did when Miguel Almiron scored
The opening goal from Almiron came after an excellent run from Tino Livramento, who waltzed his way into the home side’s half before playing a wonderful ball to his teammate.
Unsurprisingly, it’s fair to say ten Hag wasn’t happy, as noted by BBC Sport’s Simon Stone.
“I just caught a glimpse of Erik ten Hag shaking his head then and no wonder,” he told BBC Sport’s LIVE blog at 20.49.
“Yet again his side have been exposed on a transition as Alejandro Garnacho first loses the ball, then gets shrugged off in his attempt to win it back.
“Diogo Dalot looked round twice to see where Miguel Almiron was – and then found himself with too much ground to make up.
“There were big gaps in the United midfield so Dalot might have been in the right place – but he ended up in the wrong one.”
Man United vs Newcastle: Livramento looking better and better
Having also excelled against Manchester City in the last round, Livramento looks a brilliant investment.
Questions were raised as to why the club moved to strengthen at right-back when Kieran Trippier is playing so well and Harrison Ashby arrived in January but the former Southampton defender is proving more than worth the money spent.
With the games piling thick and fast, perhaps we’ll start to see him more often.
If Newcastle annoyed ten Hag back then, that performance will surely do little to change his mind…
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