Ten Hag rues costly ending against Fulham

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Erik ten Hag was disappointed with Manchester United’s performance in the 2-1 home reverse to Fulham.

The Reds suffered a first defeat of 2024 after a promising start to the year, despite levelling late on through Harry Maguire. During over nine minutes of stoppage time, the visitors broke to add to Calvin Bassey’s opener with a low strike by Alex Iwobi providing a blow to our hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League.

There was a sluggish opening to both halves by United but a rousing finale was keeping everyone enthralled, only for things to go the way of the west Londoners, who rejoiced at a first away win in the Premier League since the opening weekend.

See what Erik had to say in some of his post-match reaction to the official broadcasters, including MUTV…

UNDONE AT THE DEATH

“We had strong belief. We went for the win. That is, I think, the character from this team so I think that’s great to see but don’t let them escape. They come out from a throw-in near the corner and it shouldn’t happen.”

IWOBI’S WINNER DOWN TO A MISTAKE

“We have them under pressure but one player is in the wrong position. So, as a team, we should manage that so everyone is in the right position. We have experience on the pitch. We let them escape and that was avoidable. It can’t happen when an opponent has a throw-in. The team has to make sure the positions are good and look for detail. We get punished. I think that was more that mistake [than anything else] and, before that, we went for the win. I think we should have rewarded ourselves by taking the opportunities.”

BASSEY’S OPENER

“We have to do better there. We should do better with the block that was coming. Both goals were really unnecessary and shouldn’t happen. I think we struggled with their game, especially over our left side, but the team managed it very well by the end of the first half – how to deal with and how to step up from the back. Once we got that, we got more from the game and took more control of the game.”

SLUGGISH IN BOTH HALVES

“Yes, there were slow starts. We should be awake from the first moment, on the first whistle, but the team showed big character and we could have won this game. We got the equaliser and we deserved it, at that moment. We went for the win.”

HOJLUND A BIG MISS?

“It’s not only Rasmus. It’s Luke Shaw. Casemiro fell out, shortly after the break, so it’s a lot of change in the team. Of course, that has consequences. You don’t play the same levels as we did last week. When they are not available, we have to deal with it. We could have won this game, also with this squad today, we should have won this game. We scored today as well, and we know we can sort it out, but, of course, we prefer he is available.”

EUROPEAN HOPES

“We caught up and we are in that position but it is up to us to deal with this.”