Erik ten Hag has criticised Manchester United’s players for their ‘unforgivable’ surrender against Borussia Dortmund in the United States.
Following a 2-0 loss to Real Madrid and a 3-1 loss to Wrexham, the Red Devils finished their US tour with a third consecutive setback.
After taking the lead through Diogo Dalot at the Allegiant Stadium, United surrendered twice to Donyell Malen in the final seconds of the half as Dortmund turned the game around according to Foothball.Co
For Dortmund’s second goal, Tom Heaton was responsible for a reckless ball to Victor Lindelof, who attempted to find Donny van de Beek on the edge of his box, only for ex-United loanee Marcel Sabitzer to cut it out and set up Malen.
Brandon Williams took the ball from Sabitzer and placed it past Heaton while playing Malen onside. Heaton blamed Williams, who retorted angrily, ‘My fault? It was all your fault!’
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Aaron Wan-Bissaka gave lost possession in the build-up to Youssoufa Moukoko’s winning goal for the Bundesliga side after Antony equalized at 2-2.
Andre Onana, who came on for Heaton at halftime, scolded Harry Maguire during the second half after a mix-up with Scott McTominay.
Erik ten Hag Explanation?
Ten Hag, who sent on several first-choice players after one hour, called the surrender “unforgiveable.”
He kept the team behind for longer than intended after losing three of their four games on tour before flying back to Manchester from Las Vegas.
‘There are no excuses,’ remarked Ten Hag. ‘We have to perform whatever, and then you have to be ruthless and win games because we are Man United and the fans are Man United.’
‘I told the guys that I thought it was a wonderful tour, but you want to finish with a good performance, and you saw only 60 minutes where I was delighted, but not with the goals we conceded because they were extremely awful.
The first goal was very terrible defending, and the second goal was really awful in building up, and that is not how we play. We have to maintain control, and you have to maintain responsibility on the ball, as it did in Dortmund’s 3-2 win, so it can’t happen, and it’s unacceptable even if it’s a friendly.
‘We were playing well as a team, with a lot of dynamic good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to watch. That’s what I wanted to convey to the players at halftime, but then they gave up two goals that were clearly giveaways.
‘That was already annoying, but the last half hour was terrible, a lousy performance.
We didn’t follow the rules at all, not in pushing, building up, or attacking, so there were 11 people on the field at the end, which wasn’t ideal.’
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