Ten Hag savours victory over Everton

The Reds were 1-0 down within just five minutes on Merseyside, when Alex Iwobi picked up the ball on the edge of the box and curled it beyond David De Gea.

But United rallied, and clinical strikes from Antony and Cristiano Ronaldo ensured that the Reds returned to Manchester with an important away win under our belt.

After Marcus Rashford had what would have been a third goal ruled out for an alleged handball, Ten Hag's men had to repel a barrage of aerial deliveries from the hosts in the closing stages.

Speaking to MUTV and BT Sport after the win, Ten Hag expressed his pleasure at the result, but also identified the areas where he feels the Reds could have done better to ensure a less stressful end to proceedings.

Below you can read the key quotes from Erik’s post-match interviews, including his thoughts on Frank Lampard’s side, how Casemiro and Antony are adapting to life at United, and more…

MORE CHANCES NEEDED

“You want to avoid [the crowd getting loud] and we had to score the third goal. That was my feeling during the game, already during the first half: make more goals because we were dominating the game. We were creating so many good chances so to [I wanted] to bring more out. More [so that] the manager can sit easy on the bench and watch the game.”

A TOUGH ATMOSPHERE

“It’s difficult here at Goodison Park, Everton, the crowd behind [the team]. But also, they are in a really good season. Seven games unbeaten and it’s also difficult to score against them and we scored two, maybe three, so that’s good.”

IMPACTFUL SUBSTITUTES

“Once again, we are also happy with all the subs that have come on. Cristiano [Ronaldo] making the winning goal, but also Scott [McTominay], Rapha [Varane] was on at the end. You mentioned some difficult situations and you can see how important Rapha is there with his organisation and his heading capacity.”

IMPRESSIVE FIRST HALF

“The first 35 minutes were good, impressive. Even then we had our sloppy moments, but we had a good formation on the ball, good passages of play and the chances we created were good in the first half. We didn’t allow Everton to come in our half and we didn’t allow them to come in their game. Their game is bringing a lot of crosses in and it’s a real threat, and we didn’t allow that.”

ANTONY’S IMPACT

“I was quite [confident] that he could straight away have an impact, and in the first games he has had his good moments, he had his bad moments, but I think today he played his best game so far. Now you see his running behind, and that is what I expect from him. Now I see his pressing, his defending is much better than in the first games and he has his dribbles, so I am happy with his performance, I am happy with his development. But I know there is still huge improvement and I know in the club and also in the Premier League that he needs to challenge. So he has to go every day to get out the best of him.”

CASEMIRO’S CLASS

“He is experienced. Even after a small mistake, he [remained] composed, he is doing the right things. He has a huge impact on the game by winning so many balls and always in good positions to receive balls, to link up, to pass around, and he was really important with the goal. A good ball in, a good pass to Cristiano and a good finish.”

FIGHTING SPIRIT

“We have seen it before in the last weeks. The team has that. There is a good spirit in the dressing room to keep that going, but I think we can make life easier when we press better in the second half. We also in the second half can dictate the game out of possession and we also had some good counter opportunities to score. There is room for improvement but today I don’t want to complain too much when we win 2-1 at Everton who are in a really good [place after] seven league games. It’s difficult to score here and we did twice, and I am happy and that is a compliment for the squad.”

AN IMPORTANT WIN

“Every game, we want to collect the three points. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, who are we playing, that is our aim, and we have to prepare for every game well. That is what we demand from the players; that they give every day, but especially of course on game days, their best.”