Ten Hag reacts to Dortmund defeat
Erik ten Hag had mixed feelings and said there were no excuses after Manchester United ended Tour 2023 in the United States with a 3-2 defeat against Borussia Dortmund.
Diogo Dalot and Antony were on target but the Reds were beaten by the German outfit at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The manager spoke to MUTV’s Zarah Connolly, Danny Webber and Andy Cole on the pitch after the game and gave an honest assessment…
A POOR END TO THE MATCH
“Two parts - first hour [was] good, well performing, playing as a team, lot of dynamic, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see. That is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time and then all of a sudden they gave two goals away and they really were giveaways. So that was already annoying but the last half an hour was bad, was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all, not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking, so there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.”
Ten Hag: We ended with 11 individuals
Erik ten Hag was far from impressed with the way United finished our 3-2 defeat against Borussia Dortmund...
US TOUR HAS BEEN USEFUL OVERALL
“I think so [the tour has been useful for the team]. The same I said to the team, I think it was a good tour but you want to finish with a good performance and you see only 60 minutes where I was pleased with but not with the goals we conceded because they were really poor. The first one was really poor defending and the second one really poor in building up and that is not us. We have to keep the control and you have to keep the responsibility on the ball and it was the same on the 3-2 for Dortmund, so [it] can’t happen and it’s unforgivable even if it’s a friendly.”
A LEARNING CURVE FOR OMARI FORSON?
“I think so. When there is a VAR, he gets sent off. He played a good game and the opponent gets annoyed with him so that is a learning but don’t take it into your own hands. You can’t be the judge, you have to play football, you have to beat your opponent, you have to net and that is the best way to react.”
WE HAVE TO PERFORM NO MATTER WHAT
“There are no excuses, we have to perform no matter what and then you have to be ruthless and win games because we are Man United and the fans are expecting from us wins.”
WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO STANDARDS
“First we have to return of course, then we have one day off. But you see also after the last half an hour, we have to get back to standards with the team and get back into the patterns for what is needed to get a good league start. We have two games at the weekend and then we have still more than a week to prepare for the first game of the season.”