Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag offered no excuses after watching his side slump to a chastening 3-0 defeat against AFC Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon
Erik ten Hag shouldered the blame following Manchester United’s 3-0 drubbing at the hands of AFC Bournemouth but still tore into his beleaguered players.
The Dutchman has overseen the club’s worst start to the season in decades, but this result marks a new low. Goals from Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi gave Bournemouth their first ever win at Old Trafford as they continued their red-hot recent form at United’s expense.
For Ten Hag, who had enjoyed some brief respite in midweek after beating Chelsea, the pressure is back on as fans made their feelings clear by booing the players off the pitch.
And Ten Hag pulled no punches post-match after watching his side succumb to Andoni Iraola’s upwardly-mobile team, conceding Manchester United are simply “not good enough” to be consistent.
When he was asked for his feelings on the result, Ten Hag told reporters: “Of course, annoyed, disappointed, definitely. I expected something different, I hoped before the game you can build on from the performance and result from Chelsea, so it’s very disappointing, the way we started the game.
“Then I think a long time we did everything to get back in the game, we get one shot, almost a penalty, then in the build-up we make a mistake and we are not good enough in the rest of defence and that is disappointing.
“You’re following facts, we put a lot of effort in to turn in the game, but then the brilliance, the movement in the box were not there to get the equaliser. After the 2-0, we broke down so we have to do things better.
“The way we started is no good, that is poor. It’s first five minutes of the game and especially against an opponent like today, very good transition team, you give them perfect circumstances, it shouldn’t happen. But we did everything to turn in the game, we had a lot of attacks, we didn’t come to a point to turn the game although we had opportunities.