AFP
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits Manchester United's "pride was hurt" after the 6-1 home defeat to Tottenham in October and says his team will be out for revenge as the sides prepare to lock horns once again on Sunday.
United, second in the table, travel to north London looking to put their joint-heaviest Premier League defeat behind them as sixth-placed Spurs attempt to secure a top-four finish with eight games left to play.
The criticism did not stop there, with fellow ex-United defender Patrice Evra labelling the players an "embarrassment" and striker Marcus Rashford even took to Twitter after the match to apologise to the club's supporters.
Reflecting on that low moment, and asked about how hurtful it was and if it has given United an extra spark going into Sunday's match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, United manager Solskjaer said: "Yeah, I think the players will remember that game with a lot of pain.
"Our pride was hurt. The manner in which we lost, we were not ourselves, and we know that. We gave ourselves a difficult game by having 10 men. Pre-season was short and we were not up to the standard required, but we were so poor.
"I'm sure we will see some players looking to prove that they are better than that. The biggest thing we have improved on is our fitness levels. We were way short of them. It was our third game of the season.
"We got conned into a red card, that's something we need to be aware of. We cannot react like this. We know that in games, in these situations, you can be wound up and we have learnt a lot from that.
"I'm sure we will have a better performance this time around."
Despite a massive improvement from that poor performance, Solskjaer insists he will not be satisfied with just a second-placed finish in the Premier League this season.
United currently have a four-point cushion over third-placed Leicester with eight games left but trail leaders Manchester City by 14 points, although Pep Guardiola's side have played a game more.
They are still fighting in the Europa League, and put one foot in the semi-finals with their 2-0 first-leg victory over Granada in the last eight on Thursday.
