After Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Real Sociedad, Erik ten Hag spoke to BT Sport after the game to give his take on the game.
Ten Hag was extremely honest in his evaluation of the win in San Sebastian as despite being pleased with the win, he was “disappointed” that his team did not score a second goal that would have clinched top spot and avoided a Round of 32 clash.
“We had some good chances in the first half, but of course we are disappointed we didn’t score two goals because that is what we need”.
When asked about how he felt after not achieving the outcome he wanted, which was to top the group and avoid a Round of 32 clash, ten Hag said, “you do not always get what you deserve, so this is football”.
Ten Hag was understandably frustrated because it turned out that the extremely harsh penalty decision that was given against Sociedad on Matchday 1 at Old Trafford had a huge bearing on the position that United finished in Group E, as he said that “you do not always get what you deserved, so this is football”.
Despite being frustrated about the penalty decision at Old Trafford, ten Hag was pleased with a number of individual performances, such as Alejandro Garnacho, who scored his first Man United senior goal and Donny van de Beek, who was making first start of the season.
“I’m happy with some other things, like the performance of [Alejandro] Garnacho, Donny [van de Beek] back in the team. I think we made a really good goal with Garnacho”.
United now travel to Birmingham to face Aston Villa on Sunday looking to make it 10 games unbeaten in all competitions and ten Hag was asked about the positive atmosphere in the dressing room.
However, in typical ten Hag fashion, he preferred to focus on the here and now, whilst also reflecting on the positives from Thursday’s win. “Of course we are disappointed [because] we always want to be number one, and when we aren’t we are always disappointed. But I think there are some positives, and that we have to take that from San Sebastian”.