Erik ten Hag slams “pathetic” Man United question after Arsenal defeat

Erik ten Hag slammed a “pathetic” question following Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds were defeated by Mikel Arteta’s title-chasing side, with Leandro Trossard scoring the only goal of the game in the 20th minute.

Despite there being improvements from the performance on Monday, which saw Ten Hag’s men lose 4-0 against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, it was still not enough to lay a glove on Arsenal throughout the game.

Ten Hag once again played with a makeshift back four, as Casemiro made another mistake in the backline that cost United a goal. He was alongside Jonny Evans in the centre of defence, with Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on either side.

Willy Kambwala was fit enough to make the bench and come on in the second half, but Lisandro Martínez, Victor Lindelöf, Raphaël Varane and Harry Maguire remained unavailable.

Arsenal, meanwhile, had a fully fit squad barring Bukayo Saka, who passed a late fitness test to start at Old Trafford on Sunday.

“If you want to progress a team, you need fit players. You see it in our opponent today, they had only one not 100 per cent match fit player and we had so many,” Ten Hag told reporters.

However, when asked about the size of the gap to Arsenal if he had a fully fit squad, the Dutchman responded with frustration.

“That is pathetic,” he said. “We don’t have to answer this question in this moment. Because it isn’t.

“We have these problems, and the problems have caused us an effect in results. But I don’t know where we would be if we had the players on board.

“If we had all of the players on board, we will get more points and have more consistency in the backline.”