ERIK TEN HAG has alleged that his Manchester United team lacks the proper mindset to win titles.
The end of Manchester United’s ten-match winning streak and their first loss in any tournament since October have left them eleven points behind Arsenal with one game remaining for the Gunners.
Marcus Rashford scored his ninth goal in nine games across all competitions since the World Cup ended with a superb move and goal to give United the early lead.
We're now on WhatsApp. Click here to join.
Nketiah’s strong close-range header for Arsenal quickly brought the score back to level.
Bukayo Saka’s long-range rocket kick gave Mikel Arteta’s team its first lead eight minutes into the second half.
Six minutes later, United equalized when Lisandro Martinez scored his first goal for the team, capitalizing on Aaron Ramsdale’s error to float a header into the net.
The roof of the Emirates came off following a tense offside assessment by the video assistant referee as Nketiah scored Martin Odegaard’s mishit shot to increase his scoring totals.
After conceding against Arsenal in the final seconds to suffer a 3-2 defeat, the incensed manager ripped into his team in the locker room.
Ten Hag said: “I am annoyed and I told the players if you want to win titles and medals, you have to change the mentality.”
“You are in a top game and you are making such big mistakes.”
“We started the game very well, scored, are leading and then make so many mistakes that are actually unacceptable.”
“You have to feel the game, realise that the maximum we would take from it at that moment was a point and then take that point.”
“You cannot give such a goal away as we did or you can’t win trophies.”
“We’ve already seen how the mentality of the players has changed over the last couple of months.”
“But we have noticed that we still have a way to go to get to the top level.”
“They have to realise a game is only finished when the ref blows.”
“I think it was the best set-up to win this game.”
“We pressed well. We expected pressing from Arsenal in a slightly different way and we could have read the game better a bit earlier.”
Mikel Arteta, the head coach of the Arsenal, describes the victory over Manchester United as incredible and emotional.
“Emotional. A lot of passion. A lot of quality. It doesn’t get much better than that. After the derby away to come here against that team and play the way we played, the performance that we had all over the game, and especially in the second half, it was incredible. To win it in that way just makes it even better.
“I think mentally and emotionally we were really composed. But really determined at the same time. We managed those moments in the game really well, we never panicked, we kept believing, we kept doing the right same things even better than before and we believed that in the end we could win.
“We showed the right composure in the box on many occasions but the ball didn’t go in – but fortunately enough, in the last action, we managed to win the game.
United must now focus entirely on their Carabao Cup semifinal match against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday and their FA Cup match against Reading on Saturday.
Click On the Red-Bell icon displayed at the right bottom corner of your reading screen to be the first person to get the latest news updates sent directly to your smartphone’s notification.
