Erik Ten Hag Criticizes Manchester United’s Costly Mistakes in 3-0 Defeat to Tottenham

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag reflected on the mistakes his team made in their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday. This marked United’s second consecutive home loss, following another 3-0 thrashing by Liverpool.

Tottenham opened the scoring early when Micky van der Ven made a 50-yard run and set up Brennan Johnson for an easy finish at the far post.

The situation worsened for United three minutes before halftime when their captain, Bruno Fernandes, received a straight red card for a challenge on James Maddison.

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In the second half, Spurs added to their lead with goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke, sealing a comfortable win for the visitors.

Speaking to BBC Match of the Day, Erik Ten Hag expressed frustration over how United started the game.

“To concede a goal after just two or three minutes really affected our belief. It was totally unnecessary. Their centre-half ran through our entire team, setting up the winger for a tap-in at the far post. This was the same kind of mistake we made in the midweek game against Twente. We should have stopped it right at the beginning.”

Erik Ten Hag added that the early goal left his players rattled.

“From that moment, we were stressed on the ball. We couldn’t find the triangles or make the necessary switches. We had some good moments, but after that goal, we struggled to get control of the game. Even after a mistake like that, we need to stay calm, but we didn’t.”

Erik Ten Hag acknowledged that United had chances to get back into the game.

“We had opportunities with Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho before the red card, and even with 10 men, we created some chances. The red card definitely influenced the match, but I don’t believe it was a red card.”

He concluded by emphasizing the need for the team to respond positively.

“We have to face this, accept it, and show resilience. This performance wasn’t good enough. We need to focus on the next game and improve on what we did today.”