Erik Ten Hag

Erik Ten Hag comments on his side’s attitude following a home defeat to Arsenal

Ankit Kunwar

Following the home defeat to Arsenal, Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag spoke to the media about his team’s performance. The Dutch tactician praised the quality of his opponent during the game, adding that his side was also showing a pleasing performance amid the injury crisis. 

Due to the current injury woes, Ten Hag had to adjust his players in positions which was not supposed to. For example, he paired Casemiro with Johnny Evans at the back following the absence of Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof, and Raphael Varane.

Erik Ten Hag comments on his team’s performance

Ten Hag was happy with the experiment and also about the way United players reacted and adapted to the current situation. 

“The attitude, it starts always with the right attitude during the week and on matchday you have to be spot on,” he told Sky Sports after the game. “When we missing seven starting 11 potential players we are still competitive with one of the best teams in the league.

“When you don’t have the right attitude to find the moments to press or you don’t make the recovery’s then you make it very simple for every opponent.”

Ten Hag added that losing players to injury was tough, especially in a moment like this where his team had to compete in the mid-table. Despite there were still some errors, he still appreciated his players’ effort to keep up until the end of the game.

“We’ve talked all season about this,” he said. “To have a backline who play together regularly and have routines is obviously better. You need players who have confidence to play there, we have players playing in positions who are not used to them and then you make mistakes. 

“At a high level you are punished. Or you have to play players who are not fit. That’s the situation we are in.”

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