Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag gave a candid answer to reporters about their narrow victory over Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League last night.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag answers questions from BT Sport honestly. After his side had to wait until injury time to score the team’s only goal in their 1-0 win over Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League group stage. On Thursday night with Scott McTominay coming off the bench to score late in the game. After the Cyprus goalkeeper made 12 dogfight saves before McTominay fired in finally.
When asked if this victory was the most important point of the game? The Dutch boss was clear in his answer: “no” , Ten Hag said before adding: “Football is all about scoring goals. And we create many opportunities. But the ball nets only once But it was enough to win. And we are happy with that. I have to commend the team for being patient, always being in the right place, patiently creating more chances, not letting their opponents come out. So I think we’re doing well. There is only one thing and it is about football.”
“You have to shoot. And they are less than 2. I think this game has to be 3 or 4-0. I know how football is. We’ve scored a lot of goals already, in every game I believe we can keep going. So I’m not worried about that.” “I hope we keep the goal for next week. We said at halftime that we had to stay focused. When you play against opponents who are defensively tight and you can’t shoot, you get impatient, you can be lax and lose the ball and then they destroy us. I want the team to score more goals and faster because it makes it easier. We still have two games to play and we will go game by game.
Victory scorer McTominay explained his team had to be patient as they scored more than 30 times before the winning goal. “We know we want to win tonight. But they will lose their patience as well,” McTominay told BT Sport . “Neil Lennon is a great coach and no game like this is easy. Everyone is happy with the result. Their goalkeepers are on a different level. But we created enough chances and deserved to score in the end.” “I wasn’t on the field most of the game. But sometimes you think it’s not your day. But the UFABET team spirit was good and no one gave up. It was a big goal because we had to be at the top of the group.”
The result saw United sit second in the group. Behind Ten Hag’s Real Sociedad hoping to overtake the Spanish side into the top spot. Because the team that finished second from the group stage. The home and away play-offs will be played against the 3rd-ranked team from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. The winner will advance to the last 16 of the knockout stages, while the group leader will automatically advance to the Round of 16.