In the second half of Manchester United’s Europa League victory over Real Betis, Erik ten Hag urged his players to take more control of the ball..
United advanced to the Europa League quarter-finals with a 1-0 win in Spain on Thursday night, a week after defeating Betis 4-1 at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag’s team were always heavy favourites to advance to the last eight of the competition, but they were given a scare in the early stages of the second leg.
United were fortunate not to be penalized for some poor defending in the first half, and they responded in style with a much better second-half performance..
With the win, Marcus Rashford’s wonder strike capped an improved performance, and Ten Hag explained what he changed during the break.
I believe we could have taken the lead, but there were some moments in defense and defensive transition where they could have broken, which we had to avoid “He revealed this to BT Sport.
We didn’t always use the overload in the midfield to keep more control of the ball. The second half was significantly better. You can see the energy draining from your opponent, especially after scoring the first goal.
“I believe we were much better on the ball in the second half, much more calm, kept the ball in the opponents’ half, let them run, and then you see, you win.
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