After a costly mistake 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.
Erik Ten, 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.
“At 1-0 up, we managed to keep them in the game. To maintain control, one must remain steady and persistent.” We lost the goal and decreased the level in the second half,” Ten Hag remarked.
“We didn’t finish it off, we had to go for the second goal and so they stay alive and we get punished with a mistake from ourselves.”
Erik 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 it’s the first game, winning is crucial.”
Erik Ten Hag spent a combined 23 years at Twente during three periods as a player and then in different coaching capacities, remarking on the eve of the game: “It’s not nice to have to damage something you love.
Rather, the discomfort was caused by the Eredivisie team, with assistance from another inconsistent United performance following their poor goalless draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
After United’s dismal performance in European tournaments, which included just one victory in nine games, Eriksen questioned whether the team had enough ambition to play.
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. Even though we win, it still feels like a loss.”
It was another depressing start 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.
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