Ten Hag reacts to north-east defeat
Erik ten Hag admitted his Manchester United side were second-best for large spells of the game at Newcastle United on Saturday.
Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute goal was enough to give the Magpies a victory at St James' Park that sees them leapfrog us and move fifth in the Premier League table.
Although he felt that Eddie Howe’s side deserved their win, Erik credited the Reds for staying in the game and believed we could have perhaps nicked a point at the end, as the energy of our substitutes showed in the final knockings of the contest.
Here’s what the boss said in his interviews with TNT Sports, beIN SPORTS, MUTV and the BBC…
Ten Hag: Newcastle were better than us
Erik ten Hag acknowledges the Reds were second-best at St James' Park, despite bookending the game with good chances...
WE STAYED IN IT
“Well, so we had a tough first half. We said at half-time: ‘OK, we are pleased it is 0-0, we have to stay in the game.’ We didn’t, but we had a good comeback in the last part of the game, so that is the fight we have to show.”
NOT ENOUGH CHANCES
“We have to give credit to Newcastle. They played better than us tonight. We started well, we had a good chance by [Alejandro] Garnacho but then, for a long period, Newcastle had the better performance than us. We went down 1-0 but, to be fair, by the end of the game, we came back and had some good opportunities. [Sergio] Reguilon had a good chance, then [there was] the offside goal, so we fought back but we have to do this for the whole game.”
THE NEED TO DOMINATE
“You could say we defended quite well but I prefer to stay further away from our goal and I prefer to have more of the ball, to play in their half. We had our moments where we could make good formations but it wasn’t enough. We could have been more dominant in the game.”
SUBS BROUGHT ENERGY
“I think they put out a good team. It’s probably one of the strongest teams they have, but, in the end, they didn’t have the subs we have. We brought some energy in and that had a good effect on the game."
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PUTTING THINGS RIGHT
“This week, it was not in our advantage but you have to take it as it is. We have to put this right. I know we are resilient. We can do that. Several weeks ago, we lost to [Manchester] City and then we had a good run [in the Premier League], so we have to get back to a good run.”