Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Ten Hag admits Man Utd need to be more clinical and provides worrying injury update on Marcus Rashford

Ben Stewart
Manchester United's head coach Erik ten Hag gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Everton, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Manchester United made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League with all three points against Everton in what proved to be a comfortable victory.

Erik ten Hag’s side bossed the game for the most part and climb to third in the table with all three points.

In truth, United could have been out of sight in the first half. Had it not been for Jordan Pickford, Everton would have been several goals down early on.

Ten Hag’s side 21 shots in the first half alone and they were guilty of squandering some big chances. Eventually, Scott McTominay gave them the lead just before half time.

Bruno Fernandes managed to dictate the tempo of the game from holding midfield and he was unlucky to have not got a couple of assists.

Everton did grow into the game in the second half, but Anthony Martial managed to kill the game off with his strike in the second half.

The only dampener on the afternoon for Ten Hag was having to withdraw Marcus Rashford in the second half due to an injury.

Ten Hag provides Rashford injury update

Man Utd had a total of 29 shots an accumulated an xG of over 3.5 goals against Everton. Ten Hag has recognised that his side needs to be more clinical as well as providing an update on Rashford.

“We have to be more clinical, this game has to be finished by half-time. It was a good performance and it’s very good if you do this with three games in six days so it’s a compliment to the team,” he told BT Sport.

“We have to wait [on Rashford’s injury], it doesn’t look good. Once again it’s down to the schedule, you can’t play three games in six days. Everyone wants to see big players on the pitch.”

Rashford has been in fine form under Ten Hag and a serious injury could derail Man Utd’s finish to the season.

“He played against Fulham, he played against Betis, he’s playing for England so he’s fit, he’s ready to play and the thinking is we have the most crazy schedule from all the Premier League teams.

“We have three games to cover in six days – which is not right, but we have to deal with it. I see it as a project but I also know you need results. We are in a perfect situation, we couldn’t expect we were in this situation when we started last year in June – let’s be honest.

“We are in the top four, we are in the quarter final of the Europa League, we are in the semi-final of the FA Cup and we already have a cup in our pocket, so what could be better?”

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