Ten Hag laments missed Man Utd chances with two stars guilty; says Red Devils ‘deserved’ to win

Erik ten Hag picked out Marcus Rashford and Fred for criticism after they missed two huge opportunites for Manchester United to win the game against Newcastle.

Manchester United were held to a 0-0 draw by Eddie Howe’s side, which saw the Red Devils go up to 16 points from nine Premier League games. And while they squandered some great chances, Manchester United were also lucky not to concede.

Following a Kieran Trippier free-kick hitting the Manchester United wall, Joelinton headed the ball onto the crossbar. He had an even better chance to score from the rebound of that effort, only to hit the post the next time around.

Later on in the first half, Antony was played in by Jadon Sancho and had a shot at goal on his left foot. However, Newcastle goalkeeper Nick Pope was equal to it and managed to block the attempt.

Early in the second half, Cristiano Ronaldo had two goals ruled out by the referee. The first was because he was offside in the build up.

From the resultant free-kick Fabian Schar seemed to play it to Pope and Ronaldo pounced by rounding the keeper and scoring into an empty net. However, the referee ruled that Newcastle hadn’t actually taken the set piece. Due to this, Ronaldo’s goal was chalked off and he got a yellow card for his protests.

Ronaldo was then replaced in the 71st minute as Ten Hag brought on Rashford in his place.

Fred had the first of two great Man Utd chances in the 88th minute. Pope came out to clear a Bruno Fernandes through ball but was beaten to it by Rashford. The attacker played in Fred, who had the goal at his mercy, but he could only send his shot wide while under pressure from Schar.

Rashford, Fred both fail to give Man Utd the lead

The second huge opportunity fell to Rashford. A great Casemiro cross found Rashford’s head and he really should have scored. Instead, the Englishman sent his effort just wide of the post.

During a post-match interview with BBC Match of the Day (via BBC Sport), Ten Hag said his team ‘deserved’ to win. He also complained about the Fred and Rashford chances.

“The performance was good, a clean sheet, we pressed well. We controlled the game and in stages we were good on the ball – especially in the second half,” he said.

“Then, we dictated the game and in the end we could – we should – have score the winning goal. One from Fred, and then Rashford had to score.

“In the end we could have got the win, we deserved the win. It is a big compliment to the team that we deserved this with a physical performance against one of the most physical teams in the league. They [Newcastle players] all had cramp and we kept going.

“The team understands from front to back we cooperate together. We are hard to beat and we must keep that going.”

Meanwhile, Man Utd have put a £60million attacker transfer in motion, according to reports.