Without the World Cup visitors, but with Donny van de Beek, Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial, among others, United faced a 2-0 deficit after fourteen minutes of play in the duel with the number nineteen of the Spanish league.
Ten Hag was not at all pleased with the attitude of his basic players. “Clearly we weren’t awake,” the Dutch manager said Manchester United TV. “We were asleep in the first fifteen minutes.”
“They were threatening in the transition. We were not awake at the second goal, our residual defense was poor. We were walked out, especially in midfield. That should not be possible, that is unacceptable.”
Ten Hag also had enough comments with the first goal, which fell from an indirect free kick. “Our organization and discipline were poor. Then you get a goal against. We then came back into the game, but were unable to equalize before the break.”
“This is a good lesson for young players”
United found the connection with Cádiz halfway through the first half thanks to a penalty kick from Martial. At half-time, Ten Hag made no less than nine substitutions, after which the Premier League club quickly came to 2-2 via seventeen-year-old Kobbie Mainoo. The Spaniards then ran out to 4-2.
Ten Hag was nevertheless reasonably satisfied with the input of his mostly young substitutes. “They brought energy. They run and fight on the field, but not always from the right organization. They make mistakes and are not used to playing at this level. This is a good lesson for them: they notice that small mistakes have big consequences can have.”
Ten Hag did not want to dwell on the defeat for too long. “We are not happy with this game. Of course you always have some positives, even if you lose, but there are more negatives today. But we talked about it and will do it again tomorrow. Then we draw a line under it and shall we go on.”
Manchester United cannot have twelve players due to the World Cup in Qatar, including the Argentinian Lisandro Martínez and the Dutchman Tyrell Malacia. They will face each other on Friday at 8 p.m. (Dutch time) in the quarterfinals between the Netherlands and Argentina. Malacia has not played a minute in Qatar so far.
