Ten Hag: 'Not many teams can win backwards like Man Utd'
"We have a lot of personality in the team, but it's nice to stay calm after such a messy start," said Ten Hag after the comeback win at Old Trafford. "Not many teams come up against it that way, but we have shown that Man Utd can always turn things around. If we continue to show this belief and bravery, the team can go far."
Yesterday, Nottingham Forest entered the jubilant game at Old Trafford, and scored in the second minute. From the counter-attack after the home team's corner, Taiwo Awoniyi led the ball from home to the Man Utd penalty area and then shot diagonally to open the scoring. Two minutes later, a teammate's corner kick hit Willy Boly's face and flew into the net of goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Nottingham Forest only needed 3 minutes 47 seconds to score twice against Man Utd. This is the match in which the "Red Devils" were led by two goals the earliest in the English Premier League.
But then, the Old Trafford owner overcomes difficulties to win back thanks to goals from Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes. Man Utd have won 13 Premier League games with a two-goal lead, more than any other team in the history of the competition.
Ten Hag admits Man Utd got off to a "terrible" start and conceding two goals in the first four minutes was a scenario he never wanted to happen. But at the same time, the Dutch coach considers this a good experience to see how the whole team reacts when there is plenty of time to turn the tide. Ten Hag praised the players for showing composure to stick to the plan and show off the attractive football.
"Man Utd have a good spirit, fight well, full of energy, and that will definitely help in the next step," Ten Hag said. "This is an important victory and will strengthen the confidence of the whole team. We remain calm and in control after a bad start."
Man Utd's victory was not complete when Raphael Varane was injured and made way for Victor Lindelof after halftime. Ten Hag does not want to risk seeing Varane complain of pain, and thinks Man Utd have two good replacements with Harry Maguire and Lindelof. He also affirmed that Man Utd will prepare well with the ambition to win at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in the next round on September 3.
At Old Trafford yesterday, Fernandes shone with an assist for Casemiro to equalize the score and then successfully executed a penalty to determine the victory. This is the 12th time the Portuguese midfielder has both assisted and scored in a match in the English Premier League - the best figure in the league since Fernandes joined Man Utd in January 2020.
"It's great to come back," the new Man Utd captain expressed. "Obviously, we didn't want to start the game that way. We knew we were capable of winning games without conceding a goal, especially at Old Trafford. We kept our composure, controlled the ball, created a lot of chances, could have scored more goals but the three points are the most important."
