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Erik ten Hag, who is facing criticism, asserts that struggling Manchester United must improve and achieve a level of consistency following their 14th loss of a difficult season by Nottingham Forest.
The year started off with optimism and trophies, but it ended with the Red Devils facing heavy criticism as they have already been eliminated from Europe, the Carabao Cup, and the race for the Premier League title.
United’s performance this season has been frustratingly unpredictable, as demonstrated by their exciting 3-2 comeback against Aston Villa on Boxing Day, which was then followed by a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Forest on Saturday.
Boss Ten Hag acknowledged that their team’s inconsistency was evident. He pointed out that they have the ability to defeat top teams in the league, but also suffer unexpected losses against opponents they should have been able to beat. He believed that their recent game was a prime example of this issue.
“We consistently have to make substitutions due to absences. I don’t often discuss the players who are unavailable. I always stress that it doesn’t matter who is on the field, we must focus on winning.”
The routines are not available if we constantly have to exchange.
Today is yet another instance. In the event that (Rasmus) Hojlund falls ill, we must switch our first line and as we have observed in the first half, there was a lack of pace in the game.
This was a significant contrast to the success on Boxing Day against Villa and the optimism that some supporters had after the Christmas Eve declaration that Sir Jim Ratcliffe will be a minority shareholder.
INEOS is assuming accountability for the management of the football team, and on Friday, Ten Hag expressed his belief that they intend to retain him as the manager.
Sir Dave Brailsford, INEOS’ director of sport, watched Saturday’s game in the directors’ box alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, whose final league title in 2013 looks unlikely to be added to anytime soon.
“They are familiar with me and aware of my squad and its capabilities, so I have confidence that we will achieve results,” stated Ten Hag.
We have already shown that we can compete with the top teams, so I am confident and have great faith that we will continue to make progress and improve our consistency as a team.
“I believe this is a component of a larger project. We exceeded expectations last year, but this year we have not been meeting them so far.”
“We must improve, we must rise to the occasion, and I must take charge of that progress.”
The matches have been unpleasant to watch, just like the outcomes. This is United’s 14th defeat of the season in all tournaments and 21st overall in the year 2023.
When questioned about his confidence in the future, Ten Hag replied, “Yes, I have full faith in that.”
“I am confident that this team will be stronger once the players return.”
“We need to conduct a clinical analysis in order to determine its origin. Our lack of established procedures requires attention and improvement.”
United will likely be the main focus of the post-game analysis, but it was Forest’s night.
After four days of their 3-1 victory over Newcastle, new coach Nuno Espirito Santo rejoiced in his inaugural home win as they defeated the Red Devils for the first time in 1994.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s goal in the final minutes of the game secured an exciting victory, as Marcus Rashford took advantage of a mistake from Matt Turner to equalize after Nicolas Dominguez had opened the scoring.
Santo, the manager of Forest, praised the players for their performance in completing the task at hand. He noted that the team was organized and played effectively.
“In the first half, we were able to maintain control of the game and defend effectively. We also had several periods of possession, but were unable to convert them into scoring opportunities.”
In the second half, our performance improved greatly as we began to work together. Our first goal was achieved through excellent teamwork, movement, and execution.
We accept defeat and it appears that we may encounter difficulties, but the response was swift, displaying resilience. As a result, the players should take pleasure in watching the video as they performed exceptionally well.
We are grateful to our fans and let’s savor this moment together.
Source: independent.co.uk
