Erik ten Hag was frustrated with how Manchester United started both halves at Villa Park (Picture: Getty Images)
Erik ten Hag said his Manchester United team was not good enough and the way they started both halves ‘not acceptable’ in their surprise 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Red Devils had been in pretty good form going into the clash at Villa Park, with the home side not so, and with new manager Unai Emery taking charge of a game for the first time.
The former Arsenal boss got off to the perfect start, with Leon Bailey and Lucas Digne putting his team 2-0 ahead after just 11 minutes. A Jacob Ramsey own goal just before the break got United back into the match, but Ramsey made amends just four minutes into the second half to end the scoring.
‘We lost the game at the start of the first half, start of the second half. That’s not acceptable,’ said the Dutchman. ‘You have to be ready for the game, we were not.
‘We have to be more sharp. I said it was up to us. It was up to us. We didn’t keep the ball. We let them run at the start of the game, we didn’t get the right organisation but especially we didn’t follow the rules in defending and we lost battles.
‘It’s not acceptable. A player has to take responsibility to be ready. It looked like they were fresher and that’s never acceptable.’
Unai Emery got off to the perfect start as Aston Villa manager (Picture: Getty Images)
Emery was understandably delighted with the win, saying: ‘It was amazing to be here with our supporters in Villa Park.
‘It’s the first day and I was so excited, and now I’m really happy.
‘I believe in these players, and I know they have been underperforming.
‘We have to take regularity in our way but sometimes they were showing the capacity.
‘They may have been doing that before, but we have to play with regularity, be consistent, be disciplined, be organised and I think we made the first step today.“It was amazing to be here with our supporters in Villa Park.
‘It’s the first day and I was so excited, and now I’m really happy.
‘I believe in these players, and I know they have been underperforming.
‘We have to take regularity in our way but sometimes they were showing the capacity.
‘They may have been doing that before, but we have to play with regularity, be consistent, be disciplined, be organised and I think we made the first step today.’
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‘Today we were not good enough.’
