Manchester United’s 100 percent win in their pre-season friendly games was brought to a pre-mature end after Aston Villa comeback from 2 goals down to draw with Erik Ten Hag’s side.
Jordan Sancho gave Manchester United the lead in the 25 minutes of the first half. The Red Devils will seem to be cruising to victory after Matt Cash’s own goal in the 42nd minute gave Manchester United a two-goal lead before heading to the break.
Aston Villa fought back in the second half to draw the game after Leon Bailey scored four minutes into the second half and Calum Chambers sealed Aston Villa’s comeback in the 93rd minute.
Erik Ten Hag who was not happy with his team’s performance in the second revealed that the team lacked intensity.
What did Erik Ten Hag say about his team’s second-half performance?
When asked by a reporter if his team lacked intensity in the second half, Erik Ten Hag said: “That’s what I just said in the dressing room, a drop of focus is unacceptable but to the season I’m happy because now I can tell them it cannot happen.
“We have to get out of the dressing room and back in your plan and your focus and back to your performance and that is what we didn’t do.
“We had a lot of movement behind the defending line, scored two great goals so we were 2-0 up at halftime, and then our focus dropped.
“It can be that the guys are tired but that’s not an excuse. They have to perform and it is what we didn’t do in the second half.”
The Manchester United coach refused to blame the weather or the pitch for the team’s poor showing after the break.
Erik Ten Hag added: “It was the focus. I don’t want to make excuses about the pitch or weather. No matter what, we have to perform.
“Football is a sport of mistakes and we have to decrease the mistakes. That’s clear, but I have seen a lot of progress in these two weeks.
“In the first half I saw really good football, really controlling and dominating the game, but we have to learn from what happened in the second half. It’s not possible that you go 2-0 and then throw it away.”
Erik Ten Hag seemed impressed with the Performance of Donny Van de Beek after the Dutch international was handed his first start in the pre-season tour.
The 52 year old continued: “I think, as with all the players in the first half, he had a good performance.
“I think in general our front men, our forward players, did really well.
“They were really well connected, it was a real weapon, I think it’s really difficult to defend. We have a lot of movement, we have skills, and they can finish.”
Saturday’s game was the first time Manchester United failed to win a game under Erik Ten Hag.
