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Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag says he can see Tottenham equalizing after they recovered a goal in a 2-2 draw on Thursday night.
First-half goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford had put the Red Devils on course for victory at half-time with both teams hoping to finish in the top four of the Premier League at the end of the season.
However, Tottenham responded in the second half with Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min with Ryan Mason’s team looking the most likely to pick up a late winner.
Ten Hag he said sports bt: “Obviously when you’re 2-0 up you’re a bit disappointed when you draw. This is pretty obvious. We had the chances after the 2-1 draw to make it 3-1 and we didn’t and we conceded the goal. I think 2-2 is a good draw this week.
“We had to score a second goal but to be honest they could have scored an equalizer just before the break, just before we scored. I don’t think we were that good in the 90 minutes. After the break we had to score another goal.»
On how the substitutions have altered the game, Ten Hag added: «[We were] the same after the break, it was the same as before the break and we lose control. We conceded and could see it coming and the substitutions were too late.
On subsequent passes, Ten Hag continued: “Manage the game, keep the ball. We give away many easy goals. With the goals it was quite obvious that they had overtaken us. There we have to be proactive with the second ball and we couldn’t squeeze in and it was too easy to score a goal then.
Looking ahead to the weekend against Aston Villa, the Manchester Utd manager said: «It’s another game and we need the energy and we need to be ready for Sunday.»
The Tottenham Son forward, who scored the equalizing goal, revealed that he and his Spurs team-mates were «really upset» after being 2-0 down at half-time.
The son said sports bt: “I thought we didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down in the first half. We played quite well, we had chances to score but we weren’t lucid enough.
“I think we showed great character in the second half, but we’re not happy about not taking the three points. The final decision making process was not perfect.
“We didn’t want to disappoint the fans, we wanted to give everything and that was the speech in the dressing room. We couldn’t let the game go. We were really angry about that, we didn’t deserve to be 2-0 down at half-time. I think the boys have shown a very good character.
“Football is all about the fans. The last week has been unacceptable and we didn’t want to repeat ourselves. We feel really, really sorry about the performance and the result [at Newcastle] and today we wanted to bring good energy. With them, we really appreciate their support. They were fighting with us.
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