Man United boss Erik ten Hag wants more aggression after loss

Erik ten Hag was left “very disappointed” by  Manchester United’s late 2-1 defeat to  Brighton on Saturday and said his team must be far more aggressive in defence and attack.

Brighton’s winner came in the 95th minute when João Pedro was left unmarked in the box to head past André Onana and give manager Fabian Hürzeler two wins from two at the start of his tenure on the south coast.

United came back from 1-0 down after Danny Welbeck scored in the 32nd minute, before  Amad scored a second-half equaliser. But in the end, they left Brighton with nothing after Pedro’s late winner, leaving Ten Hag frustrated at several aspects of the goal.

“We have to talk about how we act in a situation like that,” Ten Hag said. “There were more than one mistake on that occasion, and it has a big impact on the score.

“[I was] very disappointed. In the Community Shield we conceded just before full time. We should be more clinical in those situations, read the game, take the point, [and] if you can’t win. I thought we were close to win the game, definitely don’t lose the game.

“I’ve seen some good parts, and there were parts in the game; we should have had more control in the game, but there were good parts in the game. I’ve seen a lot of positives, but we have to be more clinical and aggressive in both boxes.”

Ten Hag was also unwilling to pin the blame for both goals on individuals.

“We’re always looking for individuals to blame, but in both goals are very soft goals and as a team we should’ve done better, that’s for sure,” he said. 

United should have scored a second in the 70th minute, but Alejandro Garnacho’s goal-bound shot hit teammate Joshua Zirkzee on the line as the ball was going in. Zirkzee was deemed offside and the goal disallowed.

“We can bring this goal back, and explain it in detail and what should happen,” Ten Hag said. “Most important is we had an overload, we played very good, then it’s about getting the final pass, getting players in the right positions, getting the right finish and doing everything we did well. It’s [just] misfortune.”

Ten Hag also confirmed that  Mason Mount’s half-time withdrawal was because of injury. “It was forced; he [said he had] an issue, and I didn’t want to take the risk with him. I don’t know how much [of a] worry it is at this moment. When we have a good bench, you can bring on Zirkzee, so [you] don’t hesitate and bring him off,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Hürzeler is loving life at Brighton. This 2-1 win followed on their 3-0 win at Everton on the opening day. One of their star players on Saturday was midfielder Billy Gilmour, who has been linked with a move to Napoli.

After the match, Hürzeler would not confirm whether Gilmour was leaving the club.

“I am very open with players; sometimes I don’t prefer to talk about conversations — what I can say, I’m not surprised how he played today,” Hürzeler said. “I see his attitude, and he was focused. It’s not easy when someone talks about you and saying he’s leaving the club, so I’m very happy he was stable in his mind, and that was special.”

Hürzeler said that he is focusing on building on the recent success the club has had and that despite having two wins from two, he wants the group to work on their consistency throughout the 90 minutes.

“There are still a lot of things to improve, but in the end, the work ethic was impressive,” he said.

“I think my team deserved to win; after we conceded the goal, we lost some control of the game. After we got the draw, the game was too open, we have to be honest, we were lucky not to concede the second goal, and that was a wake-up moment for us and we controlled the game again, and the way we played in the last 15 minutes was amazing. The players had the attitude of never giving up, and I could feel that on the sideline.”