Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was furious with his players after a friendly defeat against Borussia Dortmund.
The Dutch tactician clearly took this match seriously, and commented afterwards how disappointed he was with an unforgivable display from his defence in particular.
Man Utd had a decent first season under Ten Hag last year, finishing third, winning the Carabao Cup and losing the FA Cup final, but they’ll surely want to do a lot better in 2023/24.
Ten Hag’s side haven’t had the most convincing pre-season, however, losing three friendlies in a row after a win over Arsenal earlier on in their pre-season preparations.
It’s not too surprising that Ten Hag sounded dissatisfied with his players after the 3-2 loss to Dortmund, making it clear he has higher standards than this, even if this was not a competitive game with a meaningful or impactful result.
Speaking to MUTV after the game, as quoted by the Metro, the Red Devils boss said: “Two parts. The first hour was good, performed well, playing as a team, a lot of dynamism, good pressing, so it was really enjoyable to see and that is what I wanted to say to the team at half-time.
“And then all of sudden they gave away two goals – and they were really giveaways! So that was already annoying.
“But the last half-an-hour, that was bad. That was a poor performance. Didn’t follow the rules at all. Not in pressing, not in building up and not in attacking.
“So there were 11 individuals finally on the pitch and that wasn’t good at all.”
He added: “I think it was a good tour but you want to finish with a good performance.
“And you see only 60 minutes where I was pleased with it – but not with the goals we conceded, because that was really poor. First one really poor defending and the second one really poor in building up. That is not us.
“We have to keep the control and keep the responsibility on the ball. And it was the same for the 3-2 goal for Dortmund. So that can’t happen. It’s unforgivable, even if it’s a friendly.”