Coach Erik Ten Hag accused the referee of being the reason why MU had to lose to Man City in the Manchester derby.
The controversial situation occurred in the 55th minute of the Manchester derby, when the score was 1-0 in favor of MU . Marcus Rashford used speed to run down near Man City’s penalty area before falling after the impact of Kyle Walker. However, the referee still allowed the match to continue and a few seconds later Phil Foden scored a beautiful shot to equalize 1-1 for Man City.
Rashford was angry while coach Ten Hag was given a yellow card for reacting on the touchline. After the match, the Dutch strategist said angrily: “I wouldn’t say it was a tackle by Walker. Rashford confirmed to me that there has been an impact and that I have also observed it.
When you’re running at full speed and get hit a little bit, you lose control and that’s why he fell down. That was the decisive moment of the match, because in a counterattack, Man City scored.”
Coach Ten Hag also said that MU should have received a penalty after Man City goalkeeper Ederson rushed to block Alejandro Garnacho when the score was 1-1.
“We stuck to the plan and there was a moment of reckless action by the Man City goalkeeper against Garnacho. We were really close to getting a win or at least a draw here. The decisive moments were not on our side,” the former Ajax captain added.
In this match, Rashford opened the score for MU in the 8th minute with a “cannon shot” from a distance of about 25 meters. However, Man City came back to win 3-1 thanks to Phil Foden’s double and Erling Haaland’s late goal.
Looking back at the match, coach Pep Guardiola said: “Not winning would not be good but we combined the result with the performance and it was really good. We started very well but after 7 minutes and the first long ball, we couldn’t keep our distance. The players were confused in the final third in the first half but yes, it was a really good game.
MU are a team built for transition and they can punish you on the counter-attack. That’s why my players must not lose the ball. If we don’t coordinate our attacks well, they will have a chance to convert and score the second goal, then everything will become more difficult.”
The victory helps Man City stay close to Liverpool on the Premier League rankings , only 1 point behind the “Red Brigade” before the clash between the two teams at Anfield next weekend. Meanwhile, the defeat left MU 11 points behind the top 4 and 6 points behind the fifth-placed team, Tottenham.
However, coach Ten Hag is still confident of winning a spot in the Champions League next season. The Dutch strategist added: “Fifth place can also get a place in the Champions League so we have to try and win our matches.”
