Ten Hag ‘could see it coming’ as Man Utd throw away two-goal lead; Son reveals why Spurs were ‘really angry’
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag says he could see Tottenham’s equaliser coming after they got one goal back in a 2-2 draw on Thursday night.
First-half strikes from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford had put the Red Devils on their way to victory at half-time with both clubs hoping to finish in the Premier League’s top four come the end of the season.
However, Tottenham struck back in the second half through Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min with Ryan Mason’s side looking the most likely to grab a winner late on.
Ten Hag told BT Sport: “Of course when you are 2-0 up then you are a little bit disappointed when you draw. That’s quite obvious. We had the chances after the 2-1 to score the 3-1 ands we didn’t and we concede the goal. I think in this week 2-2 is a good draw.
“We had to score a second goal but to be honest they could have got the equaliser just before half time, just before we scored. I don’t think we were that good across the 90 minutes. After half-time we had to score another goal.”
On how substitutions altered the game, Ten Hag added: “[We were] the same after half-time, it was the same as before half-time and we lose control. We concede the goal and we could see it coming and the subs were too late.”
On next steps, Ten Hag continued: “Manage the game, keep the ball. We give so much easy goals away. With the goals it was quite obvious they got across us. We have to proactive there with the second ball and we didn’t squeeze out and it was too easy to score a goal then.”
Looking ahead to the weekend against Aston Villa, the Man Utd boss said: “It’s another game and we need energy and we have to be ready for Sunday.”
Tottenham forward Son, who scored their equalising goal, has revealed that he and his Spurs team-mates were “really angry” after finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time.
Son told BT Sport: “I thought we didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down in the first half. We played quite well, we had the chances to score but we weren’t clinical enough.
“I think in the second half we showed great character, but we’re not happy we didn’t get three points. The final decision making wasn’t perfect.
“We didn’t want to let the fans down, we wanted to give everything and that was the dressing room speech. We couldn’t let the game go. We were really angry about it, we didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down at half-time. I think the lads showed really good character.
“Football is all about the fans. The last week was unacceptable and we didn’t want to repeat that. We feel really, really sorry for the performance and result [at Newcastle] and today we wanted to bring a good energy. With them, we really appreciated their support. They were fighting with us.”
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