Erik ten Hag fires back at reporter over unreasonable Man Utd stat after Chelsea defeat
Erik ten Hag appeared to hit back at a reporter after she revealed a damning Manchester United stat after the 4-3 loss at Chelsea.
Having been 2-0 down after 19 minutes, United fought back brilliantly on Thursday night and looked to be cruising to a magnificent 3-2 comeback win.
But two goals deep into stoppage time from Cole Palmer changed all that and dealt a serious blow to the Red Devils’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Though their form has been incredibly inconsistent this season, United have been surprisingly strong defensively, even with their huge injury crisis.
Prior to this game, they had conceded the fourth fewest goals in the Premier League, with only title contenders Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City able to better them.
The loss to Chelsea has moved them to fifth on the list with 44 goals, now behind Everton and level with Tottenham.
But more notably, it has been pointed out that Ten Hag’s side are conceding an incredible amount of shots, with over 200 against them since the start of the year.
The Blues managed 28 against them at Stamford Bridge, and that number was put to Ten Hag by TNT Sports’ Jules Breach, who claimed that it was surely ‘unsustainable’ to concede so many chances.
The manager appeared to be having none of it however, hitting back with: ‘It is ridiculous [to claim it’s unsustainable].
‘We showed that we ranked fourth [best] for goals conceded before tonight, and everyone is talking to each other [about the shots] after.
‘We are good, and we have good defending as a team and a good goalkeeper so I cannot do nothing.’
United did admittedly put in a decent performance and perhaps deserved to come away with something, with Ten Hag adding: ‘Yes we started poor, kicking the ball away and defending poorly.
‘But you saw we were dominating the game and it was brilliant how we played – we deserved to win the game.
‘But, you cannot give it away like we did and we have to manage this game better. It is a team performance, you can point to one of the players but it is about team performance.
‘When it gets chaotic you have to deal with it as a team and we made the wrong decisions and we didn’t help out as a team. Out of possession we made bad decision – a lack of concentration.
‘Also, I think unlucky at the end with the penalty situation, questionable and very soft but we have to do better.’
