The technician of Man Utd, Erik ten Haagsaid a lack of self-belief had rubbed off on his team on Sunday in a 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in their first Premier League game.
Brighton’s Pascal Gross scored twice in the first half before Alexis MacAllister’s own goal gave United a glimmer of hope in the 68th minute, but Brighton held on for their first victory at Old Trafford.
“I think it was a good start and after the first goal we went down a level, we went down in faith, we made mistakes and the opponent punished us,” Ten Hag told reporters. “We lost confidence in the first half and that’s not going to happen, you always have to believe in yourself and stick together as a team.”
Ten Hag saw a change: “We came back in the second half and we had to believe on the pitch and that was good to see. They have to face those setbacks and believe, because they are very good players.”
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Ten Hag defended his decision to start Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, saying the Portuguese international was in no shape to play a full match after missing United’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.
Christian Eriksen was deployed as a ‘false nine’ with Ronaldo in the 53rd minute. “If there is a striker available, he has played. Ronaldo is now maybe 10 days in team training and is very fair for 90 minutes, That’s why we didn’t make headlines.”
Source: La Verdad
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