The Manchester United manager also spoke about what they need to do before the Premier League season kicks off in a couple of weeks’ time.
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Manchester United did not have the best of finishes to the United States’ Tour after suffering a 3-2 defeat against Borussia Dortmund. It was not a bad performance by the Red Devils during the game at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. United matched the German outfit toe-to-toe and even created some good chances. Diogo Dalot also scored a beauty but the Old Trafford outfit conceded goals that resulted from individual or collective defensive frailties.
Manager Erik ten Hag was particularly annoyed with the ending to the game against Borussia Dortmund. He was not happy with how the team performed in the final stages of the match. “Two parts – first hour [was] good, well performing, playing as a team, lot of dynamic, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see,” he told MUTV.
“That is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time and then all of a sudden they gave two goals away and they really were giveaways. So that was already annoying but the last half an hour was bad, 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.”
Despite not ending the United States Tour on a good note, ten Hag is happy with how it overall turned out to be. “I think so [the tour has been useful for the team]. The same 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 but not with the goals we conceded because they were really poor,” he explained.
“The first one was really poor defending and the second one really poor in building up and that is not us. We have to keep the control and you have to keep the responsibility on the ball and it was the same on the 3-2 for Dortmund, so [it] can’t happen and it’s unforgivable even if it’s a friendly.”
The Manchester United manager also spoke about what they need to do before the Premier League season kicks off in a couple of weeks’ time. “First we have to return of course, then we have one day off. But you see also after the last half an hour, we have to get back to standards with the team and get back into the patterns for what is needed to get a good league start. We have two games at the weekend and then we have still more than a week to prepare for the first game of the season,” he added.
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