‘It’s unforgivable’ – Angry Ten Hag blasts Man Utd display in 3-2 loss to Dortmund
Erik ten Hag accused his Man Utd side of refusing to follow “the rules” in the final 30 minutes of their 3-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
The Red Devils beat Leeds, Lyon and Arsenal in their first two friendlies of pre-season but have now lost their last three matches to Wrexham, Real Madrid and Dortmund.
Results mean little in pre-season but it was his side’s performance towards the end of the match against Dortmund which really tested Ten Hag’s patience.
Man Utd took the lead through Diogo Dalot before two quick-fire goals from Donyell Malen before half-time saw the German side head into the break 2-1 up.
Antony then leveled the scoreline shortly after the half-time interval before a poor pass from Aaron Wan-Bissaka allowed Youssoufa Moukoko to score a winner for Dortmund on 71 minutes.
When asked what he made of the performance, Ten Hag told MUTV: “Two parts. The first hour was good, performed well, playing as a team, a lot of dynamism, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see and that is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time.
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“And then all of sudden they gave away two goals – and they were really giveaways! So that was already annoying.
“But the last half-an-hour, that was bad. That 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.”
When asked whether the tour had still been useful for him and his players, the Man Utd boss added: “I think so. So the same thing 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 it – but not with the goals we conceded, because that was really poor. First one really poor defending and the second one really poor in building up. That is not us.
“We have to keep the control and keep the responsibility on the ball. And it was the same for the 3-2 goal for Dortmund. So that can’t happen. It’s unforgivable, even if it’s a friendly.”
Ten Hag was then asked by MUTV analyst Andy Cole whether the long pre-season tour had caught up with his squad, to which he replied: “But you play so long in top football! There are never 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 expect wins from us.”
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