Furious Ten Hag blames officials for Man Utd loss as he disagreed with three decisions
Erik ten Hag visibly frustrated on the sideline
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has suggested the officials robbed Manchester United of a result against Arsenal, as he picked out three decisions he disagreed with.
In the grand scheme of things, United losing to last season’s runners-up Arsenal is not a massive disappointment. A lot of sides will lose to the Gunners this season, as they’re showing again that they are a very good side.
However, the manner in which the loss came will be what hurts most for Ten Hag’s side.
The game was all square at 1-1 from the 28th minute – when Martin Odegaard instantly hit back after Marcus Rashford’s opener – until United thought they’d won it through Alejandro Garnacho in the 88th minute.
Just minutes after being introduced, the young winger was played in behind and calmly finished past Aaron Ramsdale.
However, after a VAR review it was concluded that Garnacho had strayed just offside in his run. Eight minutes later – in the sixth minute of added time – Arsenal were in front.
Declan Rice chose the right time to score his first goal for the Gunners, bagging what looked to be the winner.
Agonisingly for United, their pain was compounded when Gabriel Jesus then scored to extend the lead five minutes later, and in the space of just 13 minutes, United had gone from winners to 3-1 losers.
Ten Hag disagrees with three decisions
After the game, while speaking to Sky Sports, United boss Ten Hag suggested everything went against his side, and he picked out three decisions he disagreed with that would have changed the game.
“I think the performance is right for us. We played a very good game but everything went against us. Then you don’t win the game. You need a little bit more luck to win the game,” he said.
“It is not offside [Garnacho’s disallowed goal]. That is the wrong angle. We have to accept it but I see the angle. I don’t see it as offside. But it doesn’t change the result. It is what it is, you have to accept it.”
“The penalty on [Rasmus] Hojlund and when we concede the goal it’s a clear foul on Evans.
“You can say ‘finish your chances’ and you can say ‘don’t concede after going 1-0 up’ but I am happy with the performance and it was a step forward.”
Ten Hag felt his side would have won had Garnacho’s goal counted, and there’s a good chance that’s true as it would have made it 2-1, but with a lot of stoppage time still to play.
“It is such close margins and we could have won today. If Garnacho’s is a goal, then we would have won,” Ten Hag added.
Ten Hag feels United are improving
While he was disappointed in the manner of the loss, the United boss still felt his side played well, and are progressing from where they have been early on in the season.
“I see good patterns and I see our trend line going up. It is the international break and then we continue,” he said.
“Everyone was involved. I think on the ball we were calm but there is room for improvement. We missed some passes forward and could have hurt them more. But I am happy with the performance from the team.
“We have to improve definitely but you see and what we saw last year, we can beat anyone.”
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