Is he blind? The non-judgmental Erik ten Hag is facing criticism. Manchester United were a steamer worse in the city derby but with only one shot on target they were reportedly not far from winning

Manchester United have had a difficult Sunday. It was at the ground of the city rivals and except for a wonderful strike in the match it did not show anything. Coach Erik ten Hag, however, sees it differently, for which he is facing well-deserved criticism.

Although in recent weeks Manchester United seemed to be on the rise, at least in terms of results, in the last three competitive matches Erik ten Hag’s charges have suffered two defeats. The one at home to Fulham probably hurt more, the other one was on the ground of the city rival, which is justified.

Losing to Manchester City, especially at the Etihad Stadium, is no disgrace, even though it is a city derby. Pep Guardiola has made his team a well-oiled machine that dominates England and is arguably the best team on the planet.

Moreover, looking at the statistics, it is obvious that the Citizens are clearly the better team in Manchester since the summer of 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson left the Red Devils. In every way except the money spent on transfers.

However, Sunday’s derby did not start badly for Machester United. As early as the eighth minute, Marcus Rashford sent him into the lead with a superb shot. But that was more or less all the Dutch coach’s charges showed in the match.

Manchester United close to winning? No way

From the opening whistle it was obvious who would be pulling the longer end of the rope. Despite an early goal. Citizens were better, however, we have to admit that Manchester United in a deep block resisted the pressure of the opponent for a long time. Pep Guardiola’s team still had chances, they just didn’t convert them.

After the first half, the xG statistic, i.e. expected goals, was clearly on the side of the Citizens (2.70 to 0.19). So were ball possession (74 to 26%), shots (18 to 2) and shots on target (3 to 1). In the first act alone, Machester City played 12 corners, its opponent only 2, and had almost 250 more passes.

The pressure from Guardiola’s team must have had the desired effect for once. It happened in the 59th minute when Phil Foden equalised at 1-1. The same player sent his side into the lead in the 80th minute. Erling Haaland completed the scoring in injury time with the final 3:1.

In the second 45 minutes Manchester United did not threaten the opponent’s goal once. The Citizens squeezed them a bit more. They even had more shots than Manchester United’s percentage of ball possession. The absolute dominance was evident in all aspects.

The shameless Erik ten Hag under fire from critics

Despite all of the aforementioned information, Erik ten Hag had a rather interesting take on how the game looked. “We defended brilliantly when we didn’t keep the ball. We were close to winning, or at least drawing,” Fabrizio Romano quotes him as saying.

“Overall, it was a good result from our side. Theplayers left everything on the pitch,” added the Dutch coach, who among other things complained a lot about one duel after which Marcus Rashford fell unnecessarily instead of duelling with Kyle Walker and possibly going into an interesting attacking action.

Fans understandably blame the coach a lot for statements like that. So do his actions. For example, the substitution of Rashford in the 75th minute, instead of which he sent the criticized Antony on the field.

Source: Fabrizio Romano, Twitter, Premier League