Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has shared his half-time message after being unimpressed in the 1-0 win over Luton Town.
United grabbed another Premier League win on Saturday afternoon, beating Luton Town 1-0 at Old Trafford.
Victor Lindelof was the unlikely hero, smashing home from inside the box after Luton failed to clear the danger.
For all of the criticism, United have now won four of the last five in the Premier League.
Performances maybe still aren’t quite good enough though and Erik ten Hag was looking for more at half-time…
Erik ten Hag shares half-time message to Manchester United players
United squandered some golden chances in the first half.
Rasmus Hojlund saw one close-range effort blocked by Thomas Kaminski and Alejandro Garnacho couldn’t sort his feet out when played in on goal.
Garnacho sent another effort wide, Marcus Rashford had a couple of sighters at goal and Scott McTominay sent a header over the bar.
There were chances in the first half and United could have made this a much easier task by taking even one of those opportunities.
Ten Hag wasn’t happy with the wastefulness on show from his United players and gave them a message a half-time.
The Dutchman admitted to BBC Sport that he told the United players that he wanted to throw more players forward in the second half and that it wasn’t really a risk, believing that creating chances was the priority.
Ten Hag feels more quality attacking play will come from United and called on his players to be more ruthless in front of goal.
“We create many chances and we could have made life easier if we score goals,” said Ten Hag. “In the first half, I observed four 100% chances. If you get the first, you get the second and it becomes easier.”
“I told them at half-time we are not taking risks. If you bring bodies higher on the pitch, the opportunity to score goals is higher. It will come but with those four 100% chances, one has to find the net,” he added.
United still not quite clicking in the final third
Ten Hag has now won seven of 12 Premier League games this season, but none of them having been by more than one goal.
We have seen four 1-0’s, two 2-1’s and a 3-2 with United claiming narrow victories so far this term.
Two of those 1-0’s have come against promoted clubs with United maybe expecting more imperious attacking play.
Ten Hag clearly wants his side to take more risks, play higher up the pitch and get at teams more effectively.
Hopefully, that will come with time and United will start really accelerating in the final third; the quality is there, we just need to see more consistently.
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