Erik ten Hag has delivered his verdict after his side were beaten by two goals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium following a second half where Manchester United were completely dominated.
United had enough chances to take a lead into the 15-minute interval but wasted opportunities would come back to haunt the Reds after the break.
Ten Hag’s men were lacklustre throughout and were easy to play against, with Tottenham’s aggressive approach causing United issues.
It’s not quite the difficult start Ten Hag experienced last year but with difficult fixtures coming up, he will be desperate to turn things around to kickstart the season.
The boss has now delivered his verdict on the game, highlighting the referee’s failure to award United a penalty for a blatant handball by Tottenham defender Cristian Romero.
“We created the chances, the first half was completely ours and then you have to score. We created the chances but we didn’t put them in the net,” Ten Hag is quoted as saying by the BBC.
“Also we deserved a penalty. We didn’t get it, so you have to accept it. That’s the way the game is. So it was not our day.
“I think we created more chances, very good chances. I think we did very good pressing and high ball retains. We had the switches, created some great chances but didn’t score.
“Then you have to stay focused. It started at the end of the first half, three unnecessary bookings and we conceded a big chance. Totally unneccessary.
“Then the second half the way we started was no good. But we did not collapse. We fought back.”
It is not the first time over the last 12 months that poor second halves have cost United and that is an issue Ten Hag needs to address sooner rather than later.
United now wait to welcome Nottingham Forest to Old Trafford next week, with a protest against the club’s ownership planned.
Spot on, Erik: we need to score goals to have any chance of winning. Funnily enough, that was the position one year ago at the start of 22/23 season. And I’m fairly certain the same thing is going to apply throughout the coming year. And the solution is…..?