Erik ten Hag names one aspect of Man United’s draw with Liverpool he wants improving

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Erik ten Hag has named the one aspect of Manchester United’s 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Anfield that he would change.

A stubborn Manchester United defence held out Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool for 95 minutes, despite the referee’s best attempts to end the Red Devils’ resistance after Diogo Dalot was sent off late on.

Dalot, in general, was brilliant, as was the majority of the United team with the front three and Scott McTominay letting the side down in an attacking sense in the second half.

Erik ten Hag was under huge amounts of pressure ahead of the game at Anfield with a heavy defeat, which was expected, said to be the last straw for the Dutchman, who would have lost his job had the Red Devils been battered.

Ten Hag’s one change

Speaking after the tight encounter against Klopp’s men, a buoyant Ten Hag gave his verdict on the game and the one change he would have made in the clash.

“There were a lot of aspects, absolutely,” Ten Hag told BBC Sport when asked what he liked about his team’s outing. “I think the performance was very good from our side.

“The gameplan went well, the players were brilliant in how they stuck together and were in the fight.

“My only criticism would be in possession we could hurt them more if you get one, two, three passes in. But that’s the only thing. If we scored one of the big opportunities we could have won this game.”

It’s hard to disagree with the Dutchman, United had an abundance of opportunities in good areas to launch counter-attacks but without Bruno Fernandes, who was suspended for the game following an accumulation of yellow cards, they struggled to make the most of them.

United’s gameplan nearly worked

The Red Devils certainly had a few chances in the game to pick up an unlikely win but couldn’t complete the final pass to give themselves an advantage in the encounter.

Scott McTominay, who was United captain in Fernandes’ absence, struggled to leave a mark on the midfield as he completed just 68% of his passes, Kobbie Mainoo was the standout.

Whether this is a platform for better things remains to be seen, but this is a platform that the Dutchman has to build on otherwise, this will be yet another false dawn for the Red Devils.