Erik ten Hag has said that his side need to control games better after his Manchester United team let a two-goal slip against Tottenham to draw 2-2 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
ten Hag and United had an opportunity to heap further misery on a managerless Spurs side following the London side’s 6-1 loss to Newcastle on Sunday, and looked to be well on their way to doing so as first-half goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford put the Red Devils in a commanding position going into halftime.
However, Spurs revived themselves in the second period, putting in a much better performance and they ended up earning a point via goals from Pedro Porro and Heung-Min Son.
After the match, ten Hag – speaking to BT Sport – expressed his frustration at surrendering the two-goal lead, but hinted at the draw not being a terrible result.
“Of course when you are 2-0 up then you are a little bit disappointed when you draw. That’s quite obvious.
“We had the chances at the 2-1 to score a third but we didn’t and we concede the second goal. I think in this week, 2-2 is a good draw. I don’t think we were that good across the 90 minutes. After half-time, we had to score another goal.”
The loss of such a commanding lead tonight represents the second time that’s happened in two weeks to United, with them dropping a two-goal lead against Sevilla in their Europa League quarter-final first leg exactly a fortnight ago – a tie they eventually got knocked out of last Thursday as they lost the second leg 3-0 – and ten Hag reiterated the importance of riding games out when they’re in good positions.
“We have to manage the game better, keep the ball. We give so many easy goals away. With the goals, it was quite obvious they got across us. We have to be proactive there with the second ball and we didn’t squeeze out and it was too easy for them to score a goal.”
A frustrating night for United, with the draw keeping them 4th in the league table, while Spurs remain just outside the Champions League spots in 5th.