Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag admitted his Manchester United attack must be far more effective following the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, with summer signing Rasmus Hojlund aiming to improve it, while the manager also spoke about ‘gaps’ in his midfield.
Man Utd were beaten 2-0 by Tottenham in North London on Saturday afternoon. The Red Devils thought they should have had a penalty in the 26th minute when Alejandro Garnacho had a shot blocked by the arm of Cristian Romero, but the effort was too close to the defender for the referee to give a spot-kick.
Young midfielder Pape Sarr had a great chance to open the scoring for the home side a few minutes later, only to be foiled by Man Utd goalkeeper Andre Onana.
At the other end, Bruno Fernandes certainly should have scored when connecting with a Luke Shaw cross, but his header went way off target.
Spurs caused Man Utd major problems in the 40th minute, with Pedro Porro rattling the crossbar with a powerful effort, and a cross deflecting off Shaw and onto the Man Utd near post.
Spurs struck first in the second half, as Dejan Kulusevski was allowed to run all the way to the byline and his pull-back was deflected into the path of Sarr, who netted a memorable first goal for Spurs.
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After Antony hit the post for Man Utd, Spurs doubled their lead in the 83rd minute through a Lisandro Martinez own goal. Ivan Perisic sent fellow substitute Ben Davies through on goal and he misskicked, only for Martinez to put the ball over the line. Man Utd were unable to get one back and were resultantly handed their first league defeat of the new campaign.
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports (via BBC Sport), Ten Hag defended his team’s performance and questioned how the Romero incident did not lead to a penalty.
‘We have to score’, says Erik ten Hag
“You make a face, you don’t like the first half? I like the first half, it was a very good performance from Manchester United in the first half, except, we have to score,” the Dutchman said.
“We created good chances, we had a really good press on the ball, we let them run, we had many good switches, we had many good chances to score a goal, and we deserved a penalty. I don’t know why it’s not. Absolutely a penalty. He changes the direction of the ball and his hand is blocking high above. But OK, you have to accept it.
“We quickly got three bookings, we had to stay focused, this can’t happen, they were unnecessary bookings. And then we switched off. In one attack they had two big chances, they twice hit the post.
“The start of the second half was not good, it was totally unnecessary to concede the first goal, and from that moment on, it’s the meaning of the first goal. But, we didn’t collapse, but we didn’t score.
“You have to keep composed and keep going. We have to keep working the ball instead of going to rush.
“When the opponent goes deeper you have to keep working the ball and then you can go more direct.
“I thought the midfield was good. But of course, you can always do better, but we go for goal and of course you leave gaps. But that had nothing to do with the midfielders, that was more to do with our rest defence.”
Ten Hag went on to speak about his attack, which could certainly do with £72m arrival Hojlund. The Dane is currently recovering from a back issue.
“I am not concerned with our attacking play but I am by our scoring. We know this, that is why we’ve signed a striker,” Ten Hag said. “It is one game, on Monday the performance was not good but the result was there. Today the performance was OK but we have to win here. We take the positives, but also know to keep the belief.
“When you lose it’s never good. You always have to look in the mirror and yes we have to score. We have to make the goal and quieten the crowd and opponent. In the first half it was so quiet in the stadium because we took away their belief. If you score, the game is ours.”
When quizzed about potential new signings, Ten Hag added: “It’s not about adding to the team. It’s about, we have to score goals.”
Andre Onana reacts to Man Utd defeat
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, summer signing Onana said: “No, I don’t think that they were better than us. We made some mistakes second half, but football is not always about one half.
“We started the game really well, we created chances. Unfortunately we didn’t score, and I think this was the key point. If we had scored in the first half it would have been a different game for sure.”
When asked about Man Utd failing to take their chances in the first half, the shot-stopper added: “Yes. Football is about scoring goals. We had some big chances and we didn’t score, and in the end you pay for that.
“We have to keep calm, keep working and if we keep going how we are, in the end of the season it will be ok.”
On the second half, Onana continued: “I think we made some mistakes and against a great opponent you pay. I also think in the first half we were better [than Tottenham] and could have decided the game.
“We have to look back at the chances we missed, and the mistakes we made. At the end of the day every game you lose, every chance you concede, has come from a mistake somewhere.
“We are together in this. We are at a big club and we need to take the responsability. I start by looking at myself and I think that in the next game we can be better.”
