After Manchester United’s defeat to the hands of Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon at Villa Park, Erik ten Hag gave a scathing assessment of his side’s performance.
One thing that certainly annoyed the Dutchman was the fact that his players kept crossing the ball without any purpose or conviction into the Aston Villa box that was easily gathered by Emi Martinez in the Aston Villa goal.
Ten Hag, speaking in his post-match interview labelled it as ‘stupid’ to cross the ball that many times into the box, just to find Cristiano Ronaldo.
“No, I think it was stupid to do that.”
He added: “We delivered too quickly crosses in from too far and too forcing. Then, we don’t help him. We have to bring in the crosses at the right moment.
“I think in the second half also we bring too quickly the crosses in. The right moment was from Christian Eriksen in the first half and he found the moment in the pocket to deliver the ball to Cristiano at the far post. That was the right moment.”
This ability to continuously pass or cross the ball to Ronaldo is becoming a serious concern for United because the Portuguese is not the player that he once was, which is evident by the fact he only has one Premier League goal all season.
It is clear in many respects that United are a better team without Ronaldo in the team, just think about the game against Tottenham, whereby the team created a number of opportunities. In that game, there were movements and high pressing across the forward line which enabled United to create high quality chances, as well as in the game against Chelsea, where United were the better team for the opening 30 minutes.
One player that was certainly a big miss for United was Bruno Fernandes as United missed his work-rate and energy in midfield as at times during the game United were static. However, ten Hag did not want to use the absence of his midfielder as an excuse.
“Bruno Fernandes is an important player but I don’t have that feeling. It is about the players who are now on the pitch to win this game. If they do their job 100 per cent, with passion and desire, following the rules and the principles of football, then we win this game.
“When you lose the game at the start of the first half and the start of the second half, when you start games like this, you get beat.”
You might think that there was nothing much United could have done to stop Lucas Digne’s free-kick, however, ten Hag saw it differently and said that his players could have avoided that goal.
“I think the free-kick is stoppable because the ball is too far [away from the wall]. OK, it is a small detail but details make a difference in top football.”
Next up for United are the same opponents, but this time in the EFL Cup on Thursday night at Old Trafford as they look to get back to winning ways and progress in a competition that gives them an opportunity to win silverware.