Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag masterminded a 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag spoke after his side’s 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial scored in the first half for the Red Devils, with Fred on target in the dying stages. And the Dutch player was happy with his team’s performance when they took all three points.
Manchester United have entered their match with Nottingham Forest to build on their Carabao Cup win over Burnley last week. And they did just that, scoring three goals on a comfortable night at Old Trafford.
Rashford continued his excellent form, with the United star opening the scoring after a fine corner from Christian Eriksen to score his 10th goal of the campaign.
Martial then doubled the Red Devils’ advantage in the 22nd minute, with the French international’s attempt to slip under Wayne Hennessey’s body in the Forest goal.
And Fred made sure of it in the closing stages after the Brazilian international was brought off the bench.
After the match, Ten Hag opened up about his views on United’s performance and admitted he had warned his players in the dressing room that they needed to be more clinical.
“I told this to the players in the dressing room, we need to score more goals, we create so many chances and we need to finish the match early,” he said.
“You need to be more clinical and our players can score more goals. We have to be ruthless.”
Ten Hag, before expressing his belief that United is ‘going forward’, said: “The players have thrived this season and all the players have performed very well in the World Cup.
“Now [the objective is] to stay at that level, that performance and progress game to game.”
Another thing that Ten Hag questioned is Cody Gakpo, who is now Ƅeable to join Liverpool who Ƅefore is expected to Ƅe moving to Old Trafford.
The Dutch international will move to Anfield for an initial fee of £37m after the Reds agreed a deal with PSV Eindhoʋen for the player on Monday.
But Ten Hag declined to comment on Gakpo, dismissing United’s failure to land the 23-year-old by saying: “We are always in the market but it has to match the sporting and financial criteria.
“We will do what we can to bring the players we need. I am not talking about individual cases.
“We are looking for a striker, it is good with so many games to come. We want to stay in all the leagues we play in and you need numbers in the squad.”
Rashford spoke after the match also after the United star scored his 10th goal of the campaign.
And when asked about his goals, the England international said: “I feel comfortable in that position and I want to score goals.
“If I can keep putting myself in that position… I’ve talked to them about putting me in the box for a corner because I’m usually on the edge of the box!
“We don’t train too much but it’s one of the training places.
“We’ve seen them very man-to-man and if you Ƅe able to move them into the Ƅend of goal then you Ƅe able to get good chances to score.”
And when asked about his best position and goalscoring goals, he said: “I think it depends on the opponent, it depends on the personality you are playing against.
“Usually I prefer to play on the left side but if there is a weakness in the middle or if there is a certain player that I feel can be exploited I like to have the freedom to move and be that way.
“Each striker has a number they want to try and achieve.
“For me it’s to score more than I’ve scored in a season so for me I think it’s 22, 23.
“I need to try and keep scoring goals and affecting the game.”
