Erik ten Hag yelled at his Manchester United players for “keeping FC Twente alive” during Wednesday’s poor 1-1 Europa League draw at Old Trafford.

The United coach felt terrible as he saw his team fall apart in the second half against his old team, and they finally gave up a cheap goal after some bad team defense.

Twente scored a dream goal when they came back to European competition after being out for more than ten years. Full-back Bart van Rooij made a huge run past four United players to get to the edge of the box.

Later, Manuel Ugarte slid in to clear the danger, but Christian Eriksen, who scored the first goal with a stunning strike, was badly tripped, which gave Sam Lammers a clear run at Andre Onana’s goal, which he finished with a strong shot.

Marcus Rashford, Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, and Joshua Zirkzee all did a great job setting up goals for United, but none of them were able to score against the Eredivisie team.

Later, Ten Hag brought on Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund as replacements, but neither could change the score, and the home team was held to an unlikely draw.

Ten Hag was furious after the game and told TNT Sports, “We kept them alive when we were up 1-0 and in control of the game. But you have to be consistent and keep going in the second half, and we dropped the level and gave away a goal.”

“We didn’t shut it down; we had to go for the second goal. They’re still in the game, and our mistake costs us.” 

“The goal is a team goal. The Twente player can dribble all over the pitch without being stopped, but they can’t give away a goal like this.”

“We’ve seen some good structure, but you have to keep going the whole game. If you’re ahead 1-0, you have to keep going for the second.” You must win the first game.

At the same time, United midfielder Eriksen criticized his teammates for not wanting to win as much as Twente’s players did, and Ten Hag accepted that his players did not meet the standards that were expected of them.

Afterward, he said, “It was the best game of their lives; they fought for every yard, but we didn’t.” You have to give your all; you have to kill the game and finish it off. We’re ahead 1-0, but you have to go for the second goal and then kill the game.

“Especially because we’re very ambitious, and when you’re ambitious, you have to perform and prove your point. Today, especially in the second half, we were too relaxed and didn’t bring it to the next level, and as a team, you have to do this.”

The way this team works together is usually very good. I saw how hard we work in many games, and that’s usually very good. Today I have some bad things to say. The team has to look in the mirror, but so do I.

The under-pressure United manager will be hoping that his team does a much better job when they host Tottenham in a huge Premier League match on Sunday.