He was brilliant at Ajax, but dismal at Manchester United. He can say whatever he wants, and he usually rambles on about how it’s a process and things will get better, but it’s hard to imagine Erik ten Hag improving Manchester United.In the Premier League, they’re not title contenders anyway, they didn’t even make it to the Champions League, and it’s questionable how much he cares about the Europa League, as was evident in the opening of the redesigned competition, where Twente held them to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.UEL: Eriksen gives, Eriksen takes! United slip at home against TwenteThis leads to the astonishing fact that in their last seven international matches, the famous club has recorded only one victory. And even that single win came through sheer effort, when they barely beat Copenhagen with a goal from Harry Maguire last fall, in a match where André Onana saved a penalty from Jordan Larsson. Before and after that, with Ten Hag on the bench, there were double losses to Bayern (3-4, 0-1), failures against Galatasaray (2-3 at home, 3-3 away), a fall at Parken Stadium (3-4), and then a meagre point against Ten Hag’s former club.”Twente played the game of their lives. Their players fought for every inch of the pitch, unlike us. The way they celebrated earning a point shows you how much it meant to them. We should have been ready for that, but we only gave 99 percent of our effort, and that’s not enough,” Ten Hag remarked after the Europa League opener.##EDITORS_CHOICE##The outcome could have been different if it weren’t for a fatal mistake by Christian Eriksen, who did score to give the English side the lead, but then Sam Lammers equalized midway through the second half, following a lapse by the Dane.”We didn’t underestimate Twente, but at 1-0, we failed to ‘kill’ the game. If we had scored the second goal while leading, the match would have been over. We controlled the game after taking the lead, and we just needed to be more decisive in the final moments, to keep up the pace, but instead, we slowed down, and that’s why we were punished.”. pic.twitter.com/uf9q6qZiB4— 𝙁 (@fuadyabz23) September 25, 2024 Ten Hag doesn’t want to talk about individual players, though it seems clear that he’s unhappy with the performance of the midfield and defense during the equalizer.”The goal we conceded was the entire team’s mistake. It shouldn’t happen that a Twente player dribbles across the whole pitch without any of our players stopping him,” the Dutchman observed.UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE – ROUND 1WednesdayAZ Alkmar – Elfsborg 3-2 (1-1)/Van Bommel 44, 50, Parrott 75 pen – Ouma 23, Hedlund 53/Bodo – Porto 3-2 (2-1) /Hogh 15, Hauge 40,62 – Omorodion 8, Gul 90/Anderlecht – Ferencvaros 2-1 (2-1)/Verschaeren 60, Dolberg 66 pen – Traore 86/Dynamo Kiev – Lazio 0-3 (0-3)/Dia 4,35, Dele-Bashiru 33/Galatasaray – PAOK 3-1 (3-1)/Baba 48 og, Akgun 75, Icardi 90+5 – Konstantelias 67/Ludogorets – Slavia Praha 0-2 (0-1)/Jurasek 37, Chytil 65/Man Utd – Twente 1-1 (1-0)/Eriksen 35 – Lammers 68/Midtjylland – Hoffenheim 1-1 (1-0)/Osorio 42 – Moerstedt 89/Nice – Sociedad 1-1 (0-1)/Rosario 45 – Barrenetxea 18/Thursday19:45: (1.60) Fenerbahce (3.90) St.Gilloise (6.00)19:45: (2.40) Malmo (3.45) Rangers (3.15)22:00: (2.00) Ajax (3.60) Besiktas (4.00)22:00: (2.15) Roma (3.45) Ath.Bilbao (3.70)22:00: (1.53) Braga (4.20) Maccabi T.A. (6.25)22:00: (1.35) Eintr.Frankfurt (5.00) Plzen (9.00)22:00: (1.60) FCSB (3.90) Rigas (6.00)22:00: (1.90) Olympique Lyon (3.60) Olympiakos (4.50)22:00: (1.15) Tottenham (8.00) Qarabag (16.0)***odds are subject to change***
