Irwin: 'Man Utd lost 0-5 or 3-6, but still won'

"We lost to Newcastle 0-5 and a week later we lost to Southampton 3-6, but we still won the Premier League," Irwin commented after watching Man Utd lose 0-7 to Liverpool in the 26th round of the Premier League. English class on the evening of March 6. "I think it's up to the coach, the players and the leaders of the team to accept what happened."

The two defeats to Newcastle 0-5 and Southampton 3-6 above are in a series of three consecutive defeats of Man Utd in the 1996-1997 season. Last system, Irwin and his teammates at that time were nine points behind Newcastle. However, at the end of the season they still won the Premier League with 75 points, seven points more than Newcastle.

At Anfield yesterday, Man Utd struggled with Liverpool for most of the first half. In the 43rd minute, they let Cody Gakpo concede a goal and the game from there was completely skewed towards Liverpool. From 47 to 50 minutes, their net hit twice because of Darwin Nunez's header and Gakpo's tire. Then, Mohamed Salah, Nunez and substitute Roberto Firmino scored four more goals in turn to help Liverpool complete the historic victory.

According to Irwin, two goals at the beginning of the second half were the cause of Man Utd's big defeat. He also said that Man Utd's defense played the worst game since the beginning of the season. However, he still believes in how Man Utd has recovered from two defeats to Brentford 0-4 and Man City 3-6 earlier this season. "I've seen this happen only once," Irwin said. "We showed great resilience. We lost two games but got through."

Irwin also thinks that a 0-7 loss to Liverpool is normal in football. The important thing is that teachers and coaches Erik Ten Hag need to accept and look forward to the next matches. "We won the League Cup last week and a week later we lost 0-7. That's football," Irwin reminded. "We have to accept that today is not our day. We need to forget it as quickly as possible. Next Thursday is the match against Betis, and then the game against Southampton."

Man Utd are currently third in the Premier League, with 49 points from 25 games, four more points and one game less than fourth-placed Tottenham. They still have a chance in the Cup arenas. In the Europa League, Ten Hag's teachers and students entered the 1/8 round, meeting Betis on March 9 and 16. Man Utd still has an FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham on March 19.