Erik ten Hag came under heavy fire again on Sunday due to the painful defeat of Manchester United at Aston Villa (3-1). The manager is criticized in the English media for making ‘strange’ choices. Erik ten Hag is probably the only manager on earth who could have thought of starting Donny van de Beek. Manchester Evening News.
United got off to a terrible start in Birmingham, where Unai Emery made his debut as manager of Aston Villa, trailing 2-0 after 11 minutes. After a connecting goal just before half-time, an own goal by Jacob Ramsey, United regained faith for a while, but the same Ramsey shot Aston Villa to the 3-1 final score in the 49th minute.
“It’s unacceptable. You have to be ready for the game and we weren’t.” Erik ten Hag about the lost match against Aston Villa. ?? #ViaplaySportNL #ViaplayFootball pic.twitter.com/g0Ztgyo5ev
— Viaplay Sport Netherlands (@viaplaysportnl) Nov 6, 2022
The surprise in England was great prior to seeing Ten Hag’s line-up. Van de Beek had not had a base place for 701 days and had already been written off in Great Britain. The former Ajax player was once again unable to impress and receives from both the Manchester Evening News if Manchester World a 3 for his ‘anonymous’ performance. “Another game that completely passed the midfielder,” writes the latter medium. “He failed to create significant moments.”
And Ten Hag should have known that according to the local media. “His choice for Van de Beek cannot be defended. Van de Beek at Man United does not work,” it sounds. Ten Hag gets more accusations than that. “Drafting Marcus Rashford on the right wing does not work. That never works. Cristiano Ronaldo in the striker does not work this season. It took more than an hour before Ten Hag, at 3-1 behind, made a personnel or tactical change.” The manager then took Van de Beek and Alejandro Garnacho to the side, but United also failed to turn the game with Anthony Martial and Anthony Elanga.
Ten Hag .’s reaction
Ten Hag saw his team ‘running behind the facts’ from the first minute. “One of the basic conditions is to set yourself up for a match,” said the former Ajax coach afterwards. “You have to be ready. It’s been going well lately, but today we weren’t ready.” United therefore had to chase and did so in a stupid way, according to Ten Hag. “The crosses to Ronaldo were stupidbecause they came way too fast and from way too far. Forcing too much will not help. You have to wait for the right moment to pass the ball.”