After a costly error by Christian Eriksen condemned Manchester United to a 1-1 draw against FC Twente in their Europa League opening on Wednesday, Erik ten Hag blasted his team. Eriksen’s goal in the 35th minute gave United the lead, but at Old Trafford, the Danish midfielder gave Twente their equalizer in the second half.
In the 68th minute, Sam Lammers took Eriksen’s dangerous turn under pressure and blasted past Andre Onana. Ten Hag, the manager of United, insisted that the team as a whole must accept responsibility for their inability to maintain the lead rather than singling out Eriksen.
maintained them alive, leading 1-0, managing the game requires perseverance and consistency. We conceded the goal and reduced the level in the second half,” Ten Hag remarked.
Ten Hag continued, pressing Eriksen’s error: “The goal is (a) team (fault), a Twente player may dribble over the pitch without stopping. This is no way to give away a goal.
“We have witnessed once more that you must continue playing the entire game; if you are ahead 1-0, you must press for the second goal. Since this is the first game, it’s critical that you receive a
Ten Hag, who played three spells at Twente before serving in various coaching roles, spent a total of twenty-three years there. He said, prior to the game, that “it’s not nice to have to hurt something you love.”
Rather, the discomfort was caused by the Eredivisie team, with assistance from another patchy United effort following their disappointing goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
As a team, I believe we were primarily dissatisfied because we expected much more and it wasn’t good enough. It can’t be true that they appeared to want it more,” Eriksen remarked.
“I believe that everyone is focusing on themselves because they are all professional football players and understand what may and cannot happen.
It was another depressing beginning to European competition for United, who finished last season bottom of their Champions League group with only one win.
On Sunday, Ten Hag’s struggling club returns to action at Old Trafford against Tottenham.
They play Porto in the redesigned Europa League first round before going up against Jose Mourinho’s former team, Fenerbahce.
