Erik ten Hag acknowledged that his Manchester United team wasn’t at their best during the Premier League game against Newcastle United at St James Park on Saturday evening.
Anthony Gordon’s 55th-minute goal secured a victory for the Magpies, propelling them past United to fifth place in the Premier League table.
While Ten Hag credited Eddie Howe’s side for their deserving win, he also praised the Red Devils for remaining competitive. He believed that United had a chance to secure a point towards the end, noting the impact of the substitutes’ energy in the final moments of the contest.
“Well, so we had a tough first half. We said at half-time: ‘OK, we are pleased it is 0-0, we have to stay in the game.’ We didn’t, but we had a good comeback in the last part of the game, so that is the fight we have to show” Ten Hag said in an interview with TNT Sports after the game.
“We have to give credit to Newcastle. They played better than us tonight. We started well, we had a good chance by [Alejandro] Garnacho but then, for a long period, Newcastle had the better performance than us.
” We went down 1-0 but, to be fair, by the end of the game, we came back and had some good opportunities. [Sergio] Reguilon had a good chance, then [there was] the offside goal, so we fought back but we have to do this for the whole game.”
Manchester United who registered just one shot on target throughout the entirety of this game, will play Chelsea FC next on Wednesday evening at Old Trafford, and will hope to return to winning ways.
