UNITED on mission to thwart City treble

LONDON — Erik ten Hag vowed Manchester United would "give everything" to prevent Manchester City from matching his club's treasured treble after it beat Brighton &Hove Albion to set up an FA Cup final against its fierce rival.

United won 7-6 on penalties at Wembley on Sunday after the game finished goalless, with defender Victor Lindelof scoring the decisive spot-kick.

It went some way to banishing the agony of United's shocking Europa League performance in midweek, when the Red Devils lost 3-0 to Sevilla in the quarterfinals to lose 5-2 on aggregate.

But it will have to find more of a cutting edge in the FA Cup final on June 3 if it is to beat Pep Guardiola's City, who is targeting the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.

City is favorite to win all three of the trophies this season after moving up through the gears in recent weeks.

United was on course for three trophies of its own before Thursday's blowout in Spain, but it is still chasing a domestic double after winning the League Cup in February to end a six-year silverware drought.

United boss Ten Hag, speaking after the nail-biting Wembley shootout, praised his team's ability to bounce back.

"First we are physical, strong, we are mentally strong, so we showed the character and personality necessary... we were determined to win this game," he said.

But the Dutch boss said his men must learn to change the script during tough matches — his team has suffered a number of punishing defeats this season, including a 6-3 defeat at City and a 7-0 reverse at Liverpool.

"What we have proved is that we can deal with setbacks, we can bounce back between games," he said.

"But now what we have to improve is to bounce back in a game in difficult situations or occasions, away stadiums — it doesn't matter what, we have to show personality."

Ferguson feat

United remains the only English club to have won the treble, completing the feat under former manager Alex Ferguson in 1999.

United stopped Liverpool from claiming all three trophies in 1977 by winning the FA Cup final that year.

Ten Hag joked that he would not reveal the "key" to beating City, who lost 2-1 at Old Trafford in January.

"I won't tell you," he said. "I'll keep that for myself."

Ten Hag said he understood United fans' feelings about the club's unique achievement, issuing a defiant rallying call.

"We will do everything to give them it, to give them the second trophy, everything that I have, everything that the team have, the staff have," he said. "We will give everything to get that done.

"We can do it because we have proved it. It's not an easy job. It's a great team but we also have a great team and great players and we can beat them."

Tottenham trounced

Tottenham supporters have called for action after Sunday's humiliating 6-1 rout by Newcastle.

Trailing 5-0 after just 21 minutes at St James' Park, the loss inflicted a major blow to the club's hopes of Champions League qualification.

"It's clear that something is seriously wrong at Spurs and our loyal fans deserve so much better," the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust tweeted after the match. "Today was completely unacceptable. The@SpursOfficial board needs to act decisively to give us all some hope and something to get behind at the end of a truly awful season."

Jacob Murphy and Alexander Isak both scored twice in a stunning start for Newcastle, with Joelinton adding another. Harry Kane pulled one back for Spurs, but Callum Wilson struck again for the home team.

Tottenham parted company with manager Antonio Conte last month and has only won one of four games since then. This was a new low for the Londoners, who are now six points off fourth-place United.

Spurs manager Cristian Stellini said a change of tactics was partly to blame for the rout.

"I have to take responsibility because after we changed system, the game was gone, we had to play better and we did," he said. "We scored and tried to fight, but it is very difficult to understand why the first 25 minutes were so bad."

Agencies