A disgruntled and beleaguered Erik ten Hag said he and his Manchester United players cannot “hide behind excuses” before their clash with Galatasaray – yet again failed to bounce back as they were humiliated in the premier European championships league again.
Having already tasted bitter defeats in four of their first seven Premier League games, besides their Champions League group stage opener at Bayern Munich, Ten Hag’s lackluster side squared up against Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.
The United boss had acknowledged the start to the season has definitely been wanting for them ahead of the game. But despite his earnest issuing of a rallying call to his players in the build-up to their European showdown, United’s players seemingly were displaying signs of a hangover from their unexpected, traumatising league defeat by Crystal Palace – whom they had defeated just a week or earlier in their Carabao Cup encounter – with another shoddy performance.
In the Champions League encounter against Galatasaray, the Red Devils struggled in their 3-2 defeat despite leading twice in the game. Rasmus Hojlund finally broke through to bequeath them a much-needed lead. However former Red Devils winger Wilfried Zaha was baying for blood as he fired home a scorching first-half equaliser. Hojlund again broke through the ranks to regain the lead for United with a fine solo goal before Kerem Akturkoglu and Mauro Icardi secured a stunning comeback win – and the result is certainly piling heaps of additional pressure on a bewildered Ten Hag as he continues in his struggles to solve United’s current crisis.
Ten Hag wrote: “Our start to the current season has not been good enough and, although there are reasons for this, we will not attempt to hide behind excuses. It is up to us now to turn our fortunes around, because we are the ones who control how we perform. What happens next is up to us and no-one else.
“We lacked quality in our attacking play during Saturday’s defeat to Crystal Palace, and while we conceded very few chances during the course of the game, they took one of theirs and got the victory as a result. Our decision-making over the rest of the game was not good enough to allow us to recover and that is another reminder of how you can be punished at any moment in the Premier League if you’re not at your best.
“There were some positives in our display at Bayern Munich on matchday one, but we left Germany without a point, so it’s important we get back on track in the group.
“We can’t change the bad results we’ve had. We can only control what happens in our future. We worked hard last season over the course of 38 Premier League games to get ourselves into this competition and we must make the most of this opportunity now that we’re here.
“The top clubs and top players have to be involved in the Champions League – these are occasions to be enjoyed and savoured, so we must think positively, play proactively and demonstrate the quality that we know we have in our squad. When you have a run of results that are not up to the required standard, everyone has to pull together and fight for each other.”