Ten Hag blasts ‘stupid’ United for horror show
ERIK TEn HAG accused his Manchester United players of stupidity and labelled their performance unacceptable as they were dismantled by Aston Villa.
Ten Hag handed the armband to Cristiano Ronaldo barely two weeks after axeing him from the squad, only to watch his team slip to a first defeat in six league games that leaves them still outside the top four. ‘Collectively it was a bad performance,’ said the Dutchman. ‘When we are at our best, we start the game on the front foot and ready to play. We were not and we did not deserve any more than we got. ‘We didn’t follow the rules in defending and we lost our battles. If the players had done their job with
100 per cent desire and passion then we would have won this game.
‘I have been in football a long time and players are not robots. Sometimes this is the way it is, it is psychological but it is not acceptable. We have to be ready for every game and not give it away so easily.
‘It was stupid to try to cross the ball in the way we did, too quickly and from too far out, with too much force. We have to cross in the right moment. In the second half we were too quick to cross.’
Early goals from Leon Bailey and Lucas Digne put United on the back foot and though Luke Shaw’s deflected strike gave them hope just before halftime, Jacob Ramsey restored Villa’s two-goal lead soon after the interval.