Erik ten Hag made clear his displeasure with Manchester United’s performance in the defeat to Rosenborg.
Manchester United left the pitch feeling frustrated not to have earned a draw against Rosenborg, after conceding a last minute winner.
Rosenborg won the game 1-0, and on reflection, it was a totally fair result as they enjoyed most of the play and created the better chances.
The host side hit the woodwork four times, while 20-year-old goalkeeper Radek Vitek also pulled off a string of saves. It could have been embarrassing for United.
Erik ten Hag verdict
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was unhappy with the performance and not even Radek Vitek’s performance could cheer him up.
The manager explained, speaking to MUTV: “Let’s say he got the opportunity from the team to make some very good saves, because our performance as a team was not good enough.”
Rosenborg had 22 shots at goal while Manchester United managed only five attempts.
Ten Hag said he did not want to look for positives when his overriding feeling was frustration with a negative performance.
He explained: “We can talk everything good, which is [actually] bad, but I am not that guy. I have seen, this is not the standard for top football.
“I know we play against an opponent they are in the league, they have high fitness level, but still, we are Man United.
“A team from Man United should perform better.”
United must improve against Rangers
Manchester United are back in action on Saturday against Rangers at 4pm, and the team will need to show some improvement.
Rangers are in pre-season too, so it might not be quite as testing from a fitness perspective, but it’s clear Ten Hag wants to see more of his side on the ball.
The big names like Mason Mount, Casemiro and Marcus Rashford showed brief flashes of quality but there was no cutting edge.
The second half was an academy team, and Ten Hag didn’t really want to criticise them – but as he points out, he was not in the mood to sugarcoat a performance like that, and pretend it was a good 90 minutes, when he feels it was a bad one.
His approach in pre-season is a little different, because at times last season, Ten Hag did exactly that – talking up positives from dire displays.
Hopefully in 2024/25, Manchester United start producing good performances on the pitch, saving the manager the dilemma of how to spin a bad one.