Damning Christian Eriksen admission exposes Erik ten Hag’s issues at Man Utd

Erik ten Hag had suggested before this reunion with his beloved Twente that it was “not nice to have to hurt something you love”. In the end, it was a more familiar kind of pain the Manchester United manager had to endure as he was again left questioning his team’s mentality and wondering where the goals are going to come from.

The worrying reality for Ten Hag here was that United never got close to asking Twente enough questions in front of goal and then, when Sam Lammers pickpocketed Christian Eriksen to score a famous goal for the Dutch club, nor could the home team rouse themselves from their slumber to summon the response they needed.

It has not been the start to his third season that Ten Hag would have wanted and he now faces three big games before the international break - Spurs at Old Trafford on Sunday and then tricky away assignments to Porto and Aston Villa when he will hope his players can find some inspiration in attack.

At least in the goalless draw against Crystal Palace on Saturday, United played well for the most part and created chances they should have buried. Against Twente, United conjured very little, grew sloppy and complacent and did not look capable of plundering a winner in those final 20 minutes or so with the pressure on. Twente’s raucous celebrations at the end spoke volumes.

Only five of United’s 19 shots on the night hit the target and the best save Lars Unnerstall had to make was from one of his own players: Mees Hilgers almost volleying into his own net in the first half only for his goalkeeper to pluck the ball out of the top corner.

Troublingly, Eriksen suggested Twente had been the hungrier of the two teams. “They looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right,” the United midfielder said. And Eriksen’s blunt assessment was shared by his manager, facing his local club at which he had three stints as a player and later served as a coach.

“You saw it it was the game of their life, they fought for every yard and we did not,” Ten Hag said. “Ninety nine per cent is not enough. You need to give 100 per cent. You need to go for the second goal and kill the game.

“We have to be more clinical in certain situations but I don’t think tonight that was the only problem - in the second half we have to keep going, follow the instructions and that is also a question of mentality. We are very ambitious and when you have ambition you have to perform. In the second half we were too easy going and complacent and didn’t bring it over the line and as a team you have to deliver this.

“Often the mentality is very good from this team. In many games I saw how high our workrate is but today I had some criticism but I have to look in the mirror as well, I am part of it.”

Close your eyes and it feels like Ten Hag has been saying much the same thing for two years. In his first two seasons in charge, United did not score nearly enough goals for a club of this size and ambition and, with his third now well underway, it is hard to see what has changed. New signing Joshua Zirkzee forced one save from Unnerstall and could not make meaningful contact with an excellent cross from Marcus Rashford who, back in the starting XI, was United’s liveliest player in the first half before fading badly. Both were substituted but even with Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho on, United did not look much better. Bruno Fernandes, the captain, was poor again.

“We have some problems in scoring goals,” Ten Hag conceded. “We have to work on that, that’s clear. We created enough chances but we have to score. Not just Rasmus but others - across the front line there are enough players who can score goals. Bruno, Rashford, Garnacho, Amad Diallo - they are goalscoring players.”

It took a moment of inspiration from Eriksen to break the deadlock. Fernandes fizzed a pass into Diogo Dalot in the penalty area which the United defender could not control on the turn but, as Hilgers came in to challenge, the Twente centre-back succeeded only in nudging the ball to Eriksen who, from 15 yards, fired a bullet of a shot into the top corner.

United were competent in those first 45 minutes and mostly in control, albeit relieved Lammers shot wide of the far post early on, but they did not turn up after the interval and the equalising goal embodied their shortcomings.

Ten Hag was right to wonder how Twente’s right back Bart van Rooij could run 50 yards checked from deep in his own half past five United players into a position where his side were suddenly vulnerable. Manuel Ugarte appeared to have snuffed out the danger, racing across to stop Van Rooij in his tracks where so many others had failed, only for Eriksen, collecting the loose ball, to turn fatally inside where the onrushing Lammers stole possession, surged forward and showed the coolest of heads to beat Onana at his near post with a deft finish. “You could see what this meant to them but we have to be ready for this - we can’t allow a situation where the right back is dribbling past the whole midfield and isn’t stopped,” Ten Hag said.

Manchester United 1 Twente 1: as it happened

10:22 PM BST

And finally, here’s Ten Hag

10:13 PM BST

Social media

X or at least its loudest mouths are calling for Ten Hag to be sacked, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford to be dropped.

10:12 PM BST

A brief word from Christian Eriksen

09:57 PM BST

Twente lapping it up

Their players, subs and staff link arms and walk towards their fans who give them a hero’s reception. They raise their armj to orchestrate roars and pose for a group photograph in front of their supporters who raise their scarves.

09:53 PM BST

United profligate again

They can’t take their chances and hence remain vulnerable to individual mistakes. Twente deserved the point for the way they played. They were tough in defence and dangerous on the counter. Their fans are delirious. United huffed and puffed but nothing more.

09:51 PM BST

Full time: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Bruno rolls it to Mazraoui who wall-passes it back to him and the United captain spoons a shot straight down Unnerstall’s throat. And that’s that.

09:50 PM BST

90+4 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Ugarte has a pot shot from 22 yards and bends it over the bar.  United free-kick 35 yards out, dead centre for Lagerbielke’s foul.

09:49 PM BST

90+3 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Brilliant save from Unnerstall with his tungsten left wrist levering out MAguire’s deflected header that was spearing towards the bottom right corner.

09:48 PM BST

90+2 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Mount gets down the right and crosses. Mainoo controls it, back to goal but before he can spin Hilgers telescopes out a leg to knock it away. Back comes Mazraoui and earns a 10th United corner.

09:47 PM BST

90 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Garnacho bombs down the left and makes a lot of ground but can’t beat Van Rooij and United will have a corner. Twente pack the box and see the corner off.

Four minutes of stoppage time are signalled on the board.

09:45 PM BST

89 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Mainoo runs down the left and tees up Dalot for a shot that hits Hilgers flush in the mooey and bounces off safely to the United right.

09:42 PM BST

87 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Good pass from Ugarte, diagonally from right to the left of the D and Mainoo runs on to it, takes the defender’s bump and goes sprawling. The now awake home fans holler for a penalty but it wasn’t, it was a flop.

09:41 PM BST

85 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Van Wolfswinkel is booked for grabbing Hojlund in a bear hug to stop him breaking clear from halfway.

Lagerbielke ⇢Lammers
Besselink ⇢ Regeer

09:38 PM BST

83 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Bruno Fernandes whips a right-foot shot from the right of the D the wrong side (if you’re a United fan) of the left post, fizzing only inches by the crossbar and post.

09:37 PM BST

81 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Lammers makes the wrong decision when in a dangerous position with options ahead in Rots and Van Wolfswinkel. The Twente fans gasp.

09:36 PM BST

79 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Lammers is booked for a foul on Bruno Fernandes that looked like a decent tackle. Perhaps he took the ankle, too.

Ten Hag rings the changes.

Mount ⇢ Zirkzee
Mainoo ⇢ Eriksen
Hojlund ⇢ Rashford

09:33 PM BST

76 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Van Wolfswinkel shoots straight at Onana who sends the ball out to the left and triggers a Rashford counter that Twente close down but United recycle the ball and feed Zirkzee to the left of the D and he bustles his way into the box and thunders a left-foot riser that Unnerstall slaps over the bar.

09:31 PM BST

73 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Owen Hargreaves tells us that when Ten Hag sent Garnacho on his message was we hold what we have, ‘Defend! Defend! Defend!’  Ach, well.

Twente make a third sub.

Ltalef ⇢ Van Bergen

09:29 PM BST

71 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 1

Twente almost break through again on the counter, right through the huge gap between Martinez and Maguire but make the wring choice. A minute later Maguire makes a crisp and very necessary tackle on Rots.

09:24 PM BST

GOAL!

Man Utd 1-1 Twente (Lammers)  Having scored Eriksen now assists Twente’s equaliser. Van Rooij dribbles forward, making 40 yards into United’s half but eventually loses control. But Maguire dives in and Eriksen dawdles, turns back to his own goal and is dispossessed by Lammers who bombs towards the box, feints to shoot from the inside-right into the left corner but deceives Onana by wrapping his foot round it and hammering it in at the near post.

09:23 PM BST

66 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Garnacho ⇢ Dalot.

Mount and Hojlund were also warming up.

09:21 PM BST

64 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Ugarte storms into the box from the right and earns a corner when Bruns slides in to tackle him. United make a mess of the corner, conceding a free-kick

09:19 PM BST

62 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Zirkzee holds the ball up in the centre-circle and feeds Dalot down the inside-left channel. The full-back strides towards the box with Rashford keeping pace in a parallel run. He picks up his head and lays it off and Rashford tries to wrap his right instep around it, aiming for the right corner of goal, but his shot hits the back-tracking Hilgers.

09:17 PM BST

59 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Two changes for Twente:

Kjolo ⇢ Vlap
Rots ⇢ Steijn.

09:16 PM BST

57 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Martinez is booked for rashly barging over Lammers as he tried to nip in front 30 yards out. Steijm takes the free-kick and and wobbles it at pace with his laces towards the  foot of the right post. Onana gets down and pushes it round the post. Ugarte defends the first corner at the price of another which Hilgers heads over.

09:10 PM BST

54 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

From the corner Maguire’s header is blokcked and rebounds back to him so he hooks a volley on goal but Unnerstall has to move only a few inches to his right to grab it tightly to his chest.

09:09 PM BST

52 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Bruno dribbles from the centre out to the right and down the right-angle of the box but then slips the pass behind Zirksee’s near-post run.

Amad turns on the turbo, dribbling solely with his left but doesn’t hit the right-foot shot and gives Salah-Eddine enough of an opening to make a vital slide tackle.

09:06 PM BST

50 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Martinez snaps on to a dangerous ball bent in from the right for Van Wolfswinkel, anticipating the flight and stepping out of defence to get there before the veteran captain.

09:04 PM BST

48 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Eriksen and Dalot switch positions momentarily and Dalot scoots forward down the inside-left channel, making 25 yards and running into the box before being tackled as he lost control at the worst possible moment.

09:03 PM BST

46 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

No changes and Bruno kicks-off, knocking the ball back to Onana who pumped it long and United win the second ball and start to probe from halfway. .

08:47 PM BST

Half-time: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Good goal but the match itself has been nothing to shout about. The Dutch model is compelling with clinical finishing. Without it, there can be a lot of sterile dominance of ball and territory.

08:45 PM BST

44 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Rashford wins the defensive header but sends it straight up the chimney and decides to put it behind rather than risk anything else. United clear the second corner in more orthodox fashion with Ugarte to the fore.

08:44 PM BST

43 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Twente corner after Lammers strides down the right wing and Martinez scoots over to tackle him.

08:42 PM BST

40 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

No swagger yet from Manchester United but there are smiles at the end of every attacking move. They are 1-0 up but Twente continue to make life difficult with penalty box congestion, blocking an Amad shot, a Rashford cross and a Bruno effort through volume of numbers.

08:39 PM BST

38 min: Man Utd 1 Twente 0

Salah-Eddine makes good ground down the left but instead of rolling it forward to Van Bergen on the overlap he bends a cross from too deep that allows Onana to skip out and catch it.

08:35 PM BST

GOAL!

Man Utd 1-0 Twente (Eriksen)  Fantastic finish with his right foot from the left of the box, lashing it into the top-right corner with swerve and dip. Hilgers set the move up inadvertently when the ball came off the outside of his foot and Dalot’s diligence helped with an assist.

08:35 PM BST

34 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Rashford shows his wonderful attributes with a menacing cross that catches Zirkzee on his heels. Had he been quicker with his near-post run that would have been a routine, flicked finish. Rashford flip-flaps the full-back and sends him off for an Evening News and a bottle of milk stout.

08:33 PM BST

32 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Rashford and Bruno play ‘After you, Claud’ and let Van Rooij stride forward to the 18-yard line but when he gets there he suffers an attack of vertigo and scuffs his shot that trickles to Onana.

08:31 PM BST

30 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

The rain is back with a biblical vengeance. United are bossing possession but Twente look dangerous on the counter. Ugarte overhits another chipped pass, the ball skidding off the greasy grass and out for a goal-kick. Eriksen was in space, too.

08:28 PM BST

28 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Fine save from Unnerstall. The corner is seen off as is Amad’s cross when it was headed out. But Bruno sprays a diagonal to the right of the box, Lisandro bullets a header back across goal and Hilgers tries to hack it behind but slices it on goal, arrowing towards the top right corner. Unnerstall has to get up high to his left and slaps it over the bar.

08:25 PM BST

26 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

United free-kick 40 yards out left of centre. Eriksen rolls it down the wing for Rashford who is tackled and they will have a throw by the corner flag. The throw goes to Rashford who is tackled again, this time for a corner.

08:24 PM BST

24 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Ugarte covers a lot of ground and allows Eriksen to push up to dovetail with Bruno as a 10 in a 4-1-4-1.

08:23 PM BST

22 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Robbie Savage, for it is he, remarks on how flat Old Trafford is and how quiet the home fans are. All you can hear are the Twente supporters.

Eriksen spreads the play from right to left to Rashford who floats a long cross to the far post that ctches the breeze and sails out for a goal-kick.

08:20 PM BST

19 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Excellent work from Amad to sprint down the right, cut in to beat Salah-Eddine and Vlap and poke a daisy-cutter cross that is hacked out to Bruno who shoots into a thicket of Twente defenders and Eriksen is similarly thwarted when he has a secod go. Twente pack the box when exposed down the flanks making it difficult to find an easy route through with a shot.

08:17 PM BST

16 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Eriksen works a triangular move with Rashford and Dalot down the left but Twente deal with the caretaker left-back’s cross and start a thrust up the right with Van Wolfswinkel who eventually picks out the flying Salah-Eddine. Ugarte closes him down and makes a fierce but fair block-tackle in the box that makes one wince.

08:15 PM BST

13 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Very good chest pass from Zirkzee diverts Maguire’s pass which is hooked back on to him and he finds Amad with a well-placed headed pass. The winger, haring down the inside right channel just on halfway is chopped down to stop him bombing clear and Bruns is rightly booked for it.

08:12 PM BST

11 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Rashford, who has had a shot blcoked from 22 yards, plays a one-two with Zirkzee from the left and strides into the box by virtue of the centre-forward’s cute, flicked return. He picks up his head and looks for Amad but his cross is turned away by Hilgers.

08:10 PM BST

9 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Big chance for Twente from the corner which was headed out to the right. Van Rooij chased it down quicker than Dalot and sweeps in a cross that Lammers met at the near post and opened his stance to try to steer it into the bottom left corner with his left instep but just got his angle wrong and it whistled across the face of goal.

08:08 PM BST

7 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Good run from Salah-Eddine, overlapping the pacy Van Bergen and the winger slips in the left-back to soft-shoe dribble up the byline until tackled by Mazraoui and the ball put out for a corner.

08:05 PM BST

5 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Ugarte tries to zip a diagonal from right to left, looking for Rashford. The trajectory is perfect but he puts too much oomph on the pass given the slick surface and it races off the pitch into touch. It earns a thumbs up from Rashford nonetheless.

08:03 PM BST

3 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Twente’s fans are making a lot of noise and their team has started well with Hilgers’ good nose for the ball beating Zirkzee to a pass and using his good control to get away.

08:02 PM BST

1 min: Man Utd 0 Twente 0

Twente kick off. They usually play in red shirts but have inverted for the away kit in white/red/white and look like Poland. They work the ball calmly back to Unnerstall who chips it up the right to halfway. Dalot wins the header at left-back but neither side can hang on to the ball and a long pass looking to send Van Bergen free up the left is overhit into touch.

07:58 PM BST

Out come the teams

And we’ll have the rarely praised Europa League anthem to endure before kick-off.

07:54 PM BST

Opta has analysed the 36 teams’ prospects in the Europa League

They have Spurs as fourth favourites, Manchester United as sixth and Rangers down in 27th. Slavia Prague, who made it to the R16 last year, look a bit high to me.

07:47 PM BST

The rain falls hard on a humdrum town…

Morrissey’s words, not mine. Any road, it’s siling it down at Old Trafford.

07:40 PM BST

If it’s the Carabao Cup you’re after

You can follow Liverpool vs West Ham here with Ella Nunn and Arsenal vs Bolton here with Uche Amako.

07:24 PM BST

Programme notes

07:21 PM BST

Erik ten Hag speaks to TNT Sports

06:57 PM BST

The teams in black and white

Manchester United  Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Martínez, Dalot; Ugarte, Eriksen; Diallo, Bruno, Rashford, Zirkzee.

Twente  Unnerstal; Van Rooij, Hilgers, Bruns, Salah-Eddine; Regeer, Vlap, Steijn; Van Wolfswinkel, Lammers, Van Bergen.

Referee  Simone Sozza (Italy)

06:47 PM BST

Rashford, Maguire and Ugarte start

05:02 PM BST

The making of Ten Hag

Ten Hag at Twente

Lurking in the depths of YouTube is a video that delivers a deliciously awkward broadcasting moment. It features Erik ten Hag from his playing days, when he had just captained FC Twente to victory over PSV in the 2001 KNVB Cup final, the Dutch equivalent of the FA Cup.

It may be 23 years ago, but already displaying evidence of significant hair loss, the footballer Ten Hag does not look much younger than he does these days as he paces the Old Trafford technical area.

As club skipper, he was obliged in the immediate aftermath of victory to undertake the media duties on the pitch. Which, on this occasion, consists of engaging with a female reporter who insists on congratulating the victor by smothering him in kisses. When she attempts yet another smacker, he backs away, suggesting that maybe they should just get on with the interview.

You can read Jim’s piece in full here

04:58 PM BST

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04:50 PM BST

Preview: Tukkers’ luck?

Good evening and welcome to live coverage of Manchester United’s first match of their Europa League campaign, at home against Twente, the boyhood club of Erik ten Hag who played 234 games during three spells in Enschede. This being the new Swiss model Champions League, a needlessly complex ruse designed to shoehorn an extra four teams to unbalance an already bloated competition, each of the 36 qualifiers now has eight matches, six before Christmas, two in January, half home and away but against eight different opponents, two from each of four pots of seeds.

All sides are in one league and the top eight at the end of the stage go through to the last 16 while the teams between ninth and 24th then have another two-legged play-off to qualify for the R16. That means to win the tournament, those on the express route will play 15 games, those on the scenic route 17. Player fatigue? Who cares…

The home side return to Old Trafford for the first-time since their 7-0 thrashing of Barnsley in the League Cup washed away about a fifth of the bitter taste of their galling defeat by Liverpool. Since that chastening experience, they have racked up a couple of clean sheets in the league, beating Southampton 3-0 at St Mary’s and taking a point from a scoreless draw with Palace by virtue of their truly dreadful finishing. Norman Vincent Ten Hag has taken numerous positives from those three performances without convincing all that many who were not already favourably disposed to him and his club that they are any more coherent tactically on a sustained basis rather than stringing together a series of one-offs that consist of deceptive great leaps forward and exasperating backward lurches.

Tonight they come up against a Twente side who finished third in the Eredivisie last season and are currently fourth after beating Almere 5-0 away on Sunday. They have the Dutch league’s current top-scorer, Sem Steijn, in their ranks, the former Rangers striker Sam Lammers and are captained by a man who was once Norwich’s record signing, scoring on his debut but never again, Ricky van Wolfswinkel. In seven previous trips to England in Uefa competition, the Tukkers, finalists in the 1974-75 Uefa Cup, have drawn two and lost five.