Erik ten Hag thinks Manchester United's heavy defeat by Liverpool will strengthen the personality and character of the team.
United defeated Real Betis 4-1 in the Europa League on Thursday night, just four days after suffering the joint-worst defeat in the club's history at Anfield, and Ten Hag was delighted with the response from his players.
The players were keen to begin to make amends against Betis after an embarrassing second half against Liverpool and the Old Trafford crowd, who showed strong support for Bruno Fernandes particularly, unsurprisingly stuck by the squad.
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Fernandes' performance received heavy scrutiny in the aftermath of the Liverpool defeat, but he was the first player to be serenaded by the singing section when the players emerged for the start of the match on Thursday night.
Ten Hag, speaking on Friday, looked back on the challenging week and he opened up about the lessons that have been learned.
"You always learn a lot in bad times, but also, that's the positive that you need such bad times to find out the character and personality of the team. You can also coach the team in such moments to progress," Ten Hag told Sky Sports.
"How bad it is, you use it as a tool for the future. You learn by experience a lot and managing, coaching is an experience job, by experience you get so much better, so these days [the last week], I've learned a lot.
"It's not about Anfield, it's about the performance and levels we showed there. You always question yourself why. Why didn't we deliver there in the second half what we usually do, especially in an occasion against Liverpool at Anfield.
"Why? In the end, it's about three points, but we will learn a lot from it. We have to deliver and it can't be that if you get setbacks, we react like we did because you get hammered, against a low-class team, maybe not that much but against a good team you get really hammered. That's what we experienced and what we had to face and we will take the lessons from it.
"We have to take this to strengthen the personality and character of the team, the leadership of the team. We have to work on that and it's the moment to do it. First step [Real Betis win] and now we have to confirm it in another game.
"We did so many good things this season so far, I think the team is developing very well, individuals are performing outstanding and we have to keep that going and yeah, I'm pleased with the performance last night."
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