“Good performance…” – Erik ten Hag’s full reaction to Man United’s 3-1 defeat to Man City

Erik ten Hag has labelled Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester City as a “good performance” as the Reds slip further away from the Premier League’s top four.

United opened the scoring early on in the game after Marcus Rashford’s thunderous strike hit the crossbar and went in.

However, Ten Hag’s side failed to land a punch on City for the rest of the game and eventually Pep Guardiola’s team burst through United’s defensive block.

Phil Foden and Erling Halaand scored the goals to eventually take the game away from United but Ten Hag still believes that his side showed promise in a difficult environment.

“I think it was a good performance overall, we went 1-0 up and we had our moments after it to score the second one,” he told the BBC.

“We defended very well and there were two defining moments when we nearly made a breakthrough and conceded the first goal.

“Then you are disappointed, we have to accept it and still were had the opportunties to at least get one point, but the win was also possible.”

The manager was booked after Manchester City’s equaliser. He was complaining about a potential foul on Marcus Rashford at the other end of the pitch shortly before the ball was in the back of United’s net.

“I looked back and asked Rashy [Rashford] if there was contact, maybe soft but there was contact,” he added. “It was soft, but when you are in a full sprint you lose your rhythm that is why he went down.”

Rashford and Jonny Evans were both substituted midway through the second half and Ten Hag has since explained that it was a forced decision after both players played the game through injuries. He believes that United could compete with City with a fully fit squad.

“We had two players on the pitch which were not 100% [fit]. Jonny Evans and Marcus Rashford, but they gave everything like the whole team and we are disappointed with the score,” he added when speaking to Sky Sports.

“Absolutely they fought, the togetherness and the performance was very good. On another day, we could have won this – small margins.”