Man.United 1-0 Real Sociedad: Erik ten Hag was dissatisfied after Manchester United defeated Real Sociedad on Thursday. His team fell one goal shy of finishing first in Group E of the Europa League. As a result, despite the victory, Ten Hag was disappointed.
“Not always do you receive what you deserve. That’s football, too,” Ten Hag told BT Sport. “We were handed an unjust penalty against Sociedad at home, and we won today.” United will face Ajax, Barcelona, and Juventus in an intermediate round of the Europa League due to their second-place finish in the group.
Man.United 1-0 Real Sociedad: The Red Devils will go through to the Round of 32
Ten Hag was able to identify several advantages. “I am pleased with the victory, with Garnacho’s performance, and with Van de Beek’s return.” We scored a nice goal and produced more decent chances in the first half, but we were unhappy not to score again. That was necessary.”
The manager stunned everyone by starting Van van Beek, but after an hour, he was replaced by Marcus Rashford. Scott McTominay also arrived. “We wanted to bring in more offensive players.” We were sloppy at the time and didn’t put enough balls in the box and needed to pack more into the sixteen. That only worked for the last fifteen minutes. We had to take a chance.”
After fifteen minutes, Alejandro Garnacho scored the only goal of the evening. It was only the eighteen-year-old Argentinian’s first goal in the senior squad. Ten Hag was pleased that the talent was emerging. “We also require alternatives. Antony, Anthony Martial, and Jadon Sancho were all unavailable today. The rinse was thin, but it worked well for me. I hope he keeps doing this. He was dangerous, scored, and was also dependable defensively. I’ll be really thrilled if he keeps doing this. His finish was excellent, as was his attack.”
United had gone unbeaten for the tenth game in a row, but Ten Hag was not content. “We are dissatisfied. We always aim to finish first, but there are some positives to take away from this race.”
