Erik ten Hag accused his Manchester United players of allowing their level to drop after letting slip a one-goal lead to draw their Europa League opener against FC Twente on Wednesday.
Christian Eriksen put United ahead with a powerful first-half strike on a soaking wet night at Old Trafford before Sam Lammers equalised for Twente on 68 minutes after the Denmark international was caught in possession.
"We kept them alive, we were 1-0 up, controlling the game. You have to be consistent and keep going in the second half, we dropped the level and gave the goal away," Ten Hag said. "We didn't finish it off, we had to go for the second goal and so [FC Twente] stay alive and we get punished with a mistake from ourselves. We are very frustrated."
Ten Hag selected a strong side to take on Twente, the club where the Dutchman came through the youth ranks and had three spells as a player before moving into coaching with the Eredivisie side.
Marcus Rashford returned to the line-up after coming off the bench in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace, with Harry Maguire replacing Matthijs de Ligt in defence and Manuel Ugarte taking the place of Kobbie Mainoo.
United had an early let-off when Lammers dragged narrowly wide after slack play by Diogo Dalot, before Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall pulled off a brilliant save to stop Mees Hilgers from turning into his own net. He was well beaten though by Eriksen's thunderbolt after the ball broke to the midfielder inside the Twente area.
Andre Onana turned Sem Steijn's low free kick around the post near the hour, but Twente drew level when former Rangers forward Lammers dispossessed Eriksen after Bart van Rooij's marauding run into the United half, galloping clear to fire home.
"The goal, it’s [a] team [mistake], a player of Twente can dribble through almost the whole pitch, or half the pitch, without stopping," Ten Hag said. "That is not acceptable, we can't give a goal away like this. We have seen, again, you have to keep going for the whole game; once you are 1-0 up you have to keep going and go for the second [goal].”
Unnerstall tipped Joshua Zirkzee's stinging effort over the crossbar and Bruno Fernandes went close, with Unnerstall producing a magnificent reflex save in stoppage time to keep out a Maguire header deflected by Gijs Besselink.
United ultimately had to settle for an underwhelming point to start the new-look, 36-team league phase that mirrors the format of the revamped Uefa Champions League.
The draw continues an underwhelming start to the season for Ten Hag and his team. United have won just three of their first eight games – fewer than in either of the manager's two previous seasons at this stage of the campaign. United sit 11th in the Premier League table after five matches.
"It’s the first game [of the Europa League], it’s very important you get a win," the United manager said. "We have to build and tomorrow we have to keep going. Tonight was not good enough; we should have won."
Goalscorer Eriksen was also critical of United for not showing enough intensity to match Twente, telling TNT Sports: "We wanted more in the end, far from good enough. They looked like they wanted it more – that can't be right. I think everyone is looking at themselves, everyone is a professional footballer, they know what to do, what can't happen. We don't lose but it feels like a loss."
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Ajax v Juventus, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match on BeIN Sports
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
At a glance
- 20,000 new jobs for Emiratis over three years
- Dh300 million set aside to train 18,000 jobseekers in new skills
- Managerial jobs in government restricted to Emiratis
- Emiratis to get priority for 160 types of job in private sector
- Portion of VAT revenues will fund more graduate programmes
- 8,000 Emirati graduates to do 6-12 month replacements in public or private sector on a Dh10,000 monthly wage - 40 per cent of which will be paid by government
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
