Facundo Pellistri, a future star for Manchester United, has spoken out over Erik ten Hag’s reaction to the team’s loss to Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas.
Facundo Pellistri said that Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was extremely disappointed with his players after their 3-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
United’s preseason trip of the US ended with a loss against the Bundesliga club. Donyell Malen scored twice, and Youssoufa Moukoko scored the game-winning goal in the 71st minute to hand Manchester United their third straight loss in preseason Premier League play.
Pellistri was among the starters in the Las Vegas match, but he was replaced early on by Ten Hag. The highly regarded Uruguayan international also acknowledged that the Dutchman was “angry” at the result.
Afterward, Pellistri remarked to The United Stand, ‘For the opening 43 minutes, we were good, we controlled the game, and we looked comfortable on the ball. The two errors we made and the goals we gave up ultimately decided the game, so naturally Ten Hag was frustrated. The momentum swung when we gave up those goals, but we still have to play our way.
As shown in his own postgame interview with MUTV, Ten Hag was visibly upset by his team’s failure to “follow the rules”
In response to a question about the performance, he said, “Two parts. I wanted to tell the team at halftime that they had played well for the first hour, that they had played as a team, that they had shown a lot of energy and pressing. And then all of a sudden they let in two goals that were easy as pie to defend against. That in and of itself was frustrating.
When Manchester United played Borussia Dortmund, coach Erik ten Hag was not pleased. (Photo by AP)But the last thirty minutes were really horrible. What a dismal showing. Didn’t play by any of the norms. Neither in gaining ground nor pressing forward nor launching an attack. Finally, there were just 11 players on the field, which was disastrous.
When questioned if he saw any improvements during the club’s preseason journey across the pond, Ten Hag continued to criticize the showing.
I believe that to be the case,” he continued. It was a successful tour, but as I told the squad, you need a strong final game to cap it off. And you can see that I was happy with it for only 60 minutes, but not with the goals we let up, because it was awful. Both teams’ defense was terrible, especially the first. And we are not like that at all.
We must maintain command and shoulder our share of the blame. And Dortmund’s 3-2 goal was the same. That obviously won’t occur. It’s inexcusable, even coming from a friend.