Former Man Utd Players Criticize Erik ten Hag’s Tactical Tweak After Tottenham Draw
Just two weeks after doing the same thing against Sevilla in Europe, Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United threw away a two-goal lead against Tottenham on Thursday night.
Erik ten Hag has come under fire for the substitutions he made during Thursday night’s 2-2 draw between Manchester United and Tottenham.
Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford’s goals gave United a two-goal lead, but Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min’s goals in the second half caused them to lose that lead. The outcome puts United’s chances of making the Champions League in jeopardy.
Shortly after Porro made it 2-1 for Spurs, Ten Hag made his first substitutes, bringing in Anthony Martial and Fred. In the 71st minute, Tyrell Malacia and Wout Weghorst were also introduced, but none of the four players had any notable effects on the game.
After the adjustments, Tottenham was arguably the superior team, with Eric Dier wasting a clear-cut opportunity before Son’s equalizer. As a result, Old Trafford champions Rio Ferdinand, Owen Hargreaves, and Peter Schmeichel have criticized Ten Hag’s decision-making.
“United will be disappointed, they will all be trudging into that changing room thinking how did we let that slip,” Ferdinand told BT Sport. “The first half they totally dominated this Spurs team, a team struggling for confidence and you’ve allowed them back in the game.
“They will be hugely disappointed. I think the substitutions from United saw them relinquish control of the game with the personnel that came on.”
The same thing happened against Sevilla at Old Trafford in the Europa League, and it’s the second time in a month that United has let a two-goal lead go. Ten Hag’s team ultimately paid a price for the outcome as they went on to lose the quarterfinal match 3-0 in Spain in the second leg.
United, in Hargreaves’ opinion, need depth. Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez, two of Ten Hag’s first-choice center backs, are nursing injuries, and the FA Cup semifinal victory over Brighton, which went to penalties, will have worn out many of Ten Hag’s players.
After the match against Brighton on Sunday, Hargreaves continued, “He [ten Hag] felt he needed to make some subs obviously because the players were tired and he felt he needed to make changes. I believe he received every sub right up until about six weeks ago.
“At Anfield [7-0 loss] he had a couple of moments that didn’t go his way, at home against Sevilla, a couple of subs that didn’t go his way, and obviously today. That’s the one thing they need to address is the depth and obviously they will try to do that in the summer.”
Schmeichel has also highlighted United’s lack of depth and was perplexed by Ten Hag’s decision to substitute Aaron Wan-Bissaka for Malacia. The ex-goalkeeper told Premier League productions: “With Varane and Martinez out, defensively we are a bit vulnerable.”
Schmeichel added: “That second goal, I don’t know what Malacia is doing. The ball runs straight past him and he just looks at it. You have just come on, you have to make some sort of impact, you have a job to do.
“I’m not sure why he [ten Hag] took Wan-Bissaka off because he was really good today. We’re 2-1 up, you don’t change it, it is not that bad where you take your best defender off.”
Discussion about this post