Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag lamented his side's inability to find the decisive second goal in their tame 1-1 draw with Twente.
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Man Utd held to 1-1 draw with TwenteTen Hag laments lack of second goalDutchman critical of him and his teamWHAT HAPPENED?
The Red Devils were held to an uninspiring draw at Old Trafford by the Eredivisie outfit on Wednesday as Christian Eriksen's first-half wondergoal was cancelled out by Sam Lammers' second-half equaliser. After the match, manager Ten Hag urged his team to "keep going" and kill off the opposition when in the ascendency. The ex-Ajax boss also said he and his team need to be self critical and improve.
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He told : "The goal, it’s [a] team [mistake], a player of Twente can dribble through almost the whole pitch, or half the pitch, without stopping. That is not acceptable, we can't give a goal away like this. We have seen, again, you have to keep going for the whole game; once you are 1-0 up you have to keep going and go for the second [goal].”
The Dutchman later told reporters: "I can offer mentality is very good from this team. I saw in many games how high our work rate is, but today I have some criticism. It is not only the team, I have to look in the mirror as well. I am part of it. We have to be more clinical in such situations."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
While it is still early days this season, United have spent more than £600 million ($800m) on players since Ten Hag took over just over two years ago – with around £200m ($266.9m) spent in the summer alone. The Red Devils don't have much of an identity and if they are struggling to beat weaker teams in Europe, that does not bode well for the competition and season ahead.
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?
United will look to return to winning ways when they host Tottenham on Sunday evening in the Premier League, before travelling to Portugal to take on Porto in their next Europa League encounter on October 3.