RED MEET DIET
Man Utd stars head to team-bonding dinner before crunch Liverpool FA Cup clash as Red Devils fight to save their season
MANCHESTER UNITED’S stars were out in force as they headed for a team-bonding dinner on Wednesday night.
First-team players and staff alike got together as they looked ahead to Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Liverpool.
That saw the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez and Marcus Rashford compete with Erik ten Hag, Steve McLaren and Darren Fletcher in the style-stakes.
The team attended the swanky Ivy Asia restaurant in Manchester where a wagyu steak sets punters back £62.
The clash with Liverpool represents the club’s last chance of winning silverware this season and will be huge in dictating Erik ten Hag’s future.
They are currently sixth in the Premier League and eight points off fourth-placed Villa as their Champions League hopes continue to dwindle.
Following their 3-1 defeat to City this month, Ten Hag made peace with the team’s faltering top four push by saying: “It can be an advantage that fifth spot can also be a Champions League spot, so we have to go for it and win our games.”
A rocky start to the season saw United finish bottom of their Champions League group and go out of the Carabao Cup to Newcastle.
And Sir Jim Ratcliffe was hardly supportive of Ten Hag during his first media interview since investing in the club.
When asked about the manager’s future, Ratcliffe said: “I’m not going to comment on the job he’s done because that would be inappropriate.
“You can’t blame all the coaches. The only conclusion is that the environment in which they were working didn’t work.
“Erik’s been in that environment and what we have to do is make sure that environment, the organisation, the people in the structure, are right. We have to do that bit, so I’m not really focused on the coach but on getting that bit right. It’s not for me to judge that.
“But we’ve made some quite difficult decisions in our time in business. We’ll just be logical about it, assess the facts and make a fair judgement.
“We’re not a brutal organisation really. But sometimes you do have to make decisions, that may not be popular.”
United did get a positive result last time out in the league however, beating Everton 2-0 at home.
They also fared decently last time they played Liverpool, holding the Merseyside club to a 0-0 draw in December.
They’ll be hoping to draw inspiration from that as they look to book a semi-final spot at Wembley.
Jurgen Klopp’s men meanwhile are on course for a quadruple. They have already picked up the Carabao Cup, lead Sparta Prague 5-1 from the first leg of their Europa League last 16 first leg and sit second in the Prem with the same points as leaders Arsenal.