Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has continued his feud with Newcastle United after aiming another dig at their “style”.
The Red Devils boss sparked a reaction on Tyneside during the build-up to the Carabao Cup final when he labelled the Magpies “annoying” and accused Eddie Howe’s side of time-wasting.
He said: “I think it’s a great team with a clear philosophy on how they want to play the game, with intensity.
“They do really well, they’re an annoying team to play against so we have to find a way to win. They try to annoy you, so we have to make sure we play our game and focus on our game.
When it was suggested United are “annoying” for their time-wasting, Ten Hag added: “Yeah. For instance, so if you see from the FA, the referees want to play an 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 and we are also then dependent on the refereeing as well.”
And even after lifting the League Cup following a 2-0 victory over Howe’s men at Wembley, ten Hag seemingly couldn’t resist a small dig at Newcastle.
He said: “Newcastle have a typical style but we can adapt and find a way to win.”
The Magpies started the match well, but minutes after Allan Saint-Maximin saw a near post shot saved by David de Gea, Man United took the lead after Casemiro headed home Luke Shaw’s free-kick delivery.
Marcus Rashford’s strike, which took a huge deflection off Sven Botman made it 2-0 before half-time. Despite Newcastle’s best efforts, they couldn’t get back into the game.
Ten Hag praised the spirit of his Man United side. He said: “Yet again the right spirit, we have a very good spirit to fight and give everything. It was not always the best football but it was effective.
“First you have to win the first one and that is what we did today. You can get inspiration from this and more confidence that we can do it.
“We are still at the start of restoring Manchester United to where they belong and that is to be winning trophies. This is the first one.
“They [the players] are good and connected and they also challenge each other and it is a good dressing room and in the moment it is difficult they help each other out. It is the best a manager can get.
“I just want to win. We invest from the start with the staff. They did an incredible good job with the players. The staff and players are together. There was a hunger and desire for trophies because Man Utd stands for trophies.
