Erik ten Hag has warned his Manchester United players not to let “annoying” Newcastle time-wasting antics disrupt their game in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, and his Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta have both complained about Newcastle’s perceived time-wasting this season.
And now Ten Hag has told his players to watch out for Newcastle’s attempts at time-wasting and called on referee David Coote to get tough with any such behaviour.
Newcastle have the ball in play 52.3% of a match, the second lowest in the Premier League this season behind Leeds with 51.8% according to BBC Sport.
Speaking ahead of the clash, the United boss did in fact praise Eddie Howe’s side:
“I think it’s a great team with a clear philosophy about how they [Newcastle] want to play the game,” Ten Hag said. “The key word is intensity, they do really well.”
However, the United manager is clearly not a fan of Newcastle tactics as he found it to be annoying.
“It’s an annoying team to play against, so we have to find a way to win.
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 that we play our game and we focus on our game.”
Asked to clarify his comments, the Dutchman added: “For instance, referees want to play effective time. They have the lowest in the league and they are quite successful with it.
So it’s up to us that we get speed in the game, but also we are then dependent on the refereeing as well.”
He added: “We have to make it our game, so focus on the job we have to do, focus on playing football when the ball is in the game. Don’t get distracted from what can be, whatever is on the pitch. We have to focus on the job and find our way and find the moments where we can strike.”
Rashford doubt for final
Both sides are looking to end their long respective runs without a trophy, with so much at stake at Wembley this weekend. United’s job could made even harder though, with their 24 goal star man Marcus Rashford a doubt for the final after coming off injured against Barcelona on Thursday night.
The England forward was substituted in the 88th minute and later posted on Instagram an image of himself walking down the touchline looking in discomfort accompanied by a bandaged emoji.
Asked if he was available, Ten Hag said: “I don’t know. So, players now are coming in. We have to do investigations, medical of course.
“We have to wait for a 100% diagnosis, so we have to wait.”
French striker Anthony Martial has definitely been ruled out through injury.
