Andre Onana goes tough on Harry Maguire as Man Utd faces an unforgettable friendly match against Borussia Dortmund

Andre Onana goes tough on Harry Maguire as Man Utd faces an unforgettable friendly match against Borussia Dortmund

Erik ten Hag furious with ‘unforgivable’ performance as US tour ends with third straight loss, rowers and hard work

Erik ten Hag has slammed Manchester United’s ‘unforgivable’ defense in their final game of the US tour against Borussia Dortmund, when new goalkeeper Andre Onana aggressively clashed with team-mate Harry Maguire over a mix-up with Scott McTominay.
United manager Ten Hag has warned there must be significant improvement ahead of the start of the new Premier League season after mistakes by Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka cost United two goals in the 3-2 defeat against the Bundesliga club.

On a night when United lost their minds in the scorching Nevada heat at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, two major clashes between United teammates punctuated their third consecutive defeat on the US tour after an Under-21 side lost 3-1 against Wrexham in San Diego the night before, Houston’s first team was clearly beaten 0-2 against Real Madrid.

Maguire was again briefly mocked by parts of the public, but according to Ten Hag United the problems only increased in the final hour when he made a number of changes and introduced most of his recognized players from the first team.

Interestingly, Ten Hag opted to place Jonny Evans, who got a short pre-season deal, alongside Lisandro Martinez, rather than Maguire or Lindelof, who started the game from a weaker side. But the tipping point came in the 48th minute when summer signing Onana was forced to save after conceding just two goals in a minute after Maguire relinquished possession. The former Inter Milan goalkeeper barked at Maguire after the England defender dropped a ball for McTominay, prompting Onana to make a fine save from Sebastien Haller.

The incident came shortly after Brandon Williams and Tom Heaton were involved in a furious altercation following Dortmund’s second goal and youngster Omari Forson had to be taken off the field in the first half for his own good amid fears being expelled.

Erik ten Hag was furious at his side’s capitulation against Dortmund at half-time when they conceded two goals in a minute, as well as defense and attack in the last half hour and it didn’t work out as the tour of United ended on a sour note finished.

“Two sides: first hour [was] good, played well, played as a team, lots of dynamics, good pressure, so that was really good to watch,” said Ten Hag before the team went home in England. “I wanted to say that to the team at half-time and then suddenly they conceded two goals and it was really a gift.”
“It was boring, but the last half hour was bad, a bad performance. We didn’t follow the rules at all, neither in pressing, nor in development, nor in attack, so in the end there was eleven people on the pitch and it was not good at all.”

United have two more games to play, against Lens at Old Trafford on Saturday and Athletic Bilbao in Dublin the following day, before starting the new Premier League season at home to Wolves on August 14. And Ten Hag urged his team to pull themselves together.
“There are no excuses, we absolutely have to play and then you have to be ruthless and win games because we are Man United and the fans expect us to win,” he said. declared. “Of course, we have to go home first, then we have the day off. But we can see even after the last half hour that we have to get back to the standards with the team and get used to the patterns necessary to get off to a good start in the league. We have two games at the weekend, then we have more than a week to prepare for the first game of the season.

United are losing their minds – and blaming themselves

United took the lead against Dortmund when Diogo Dalot fired a superb shot from the edge of the box. But the Germans equalized in the 43rd minute when Donyell Malen volleyed into goal before a missed pass from Victor left Lindelof United 2-1 a minute later Malen scored again and sparked a furious exchange between Williams and Heaton.

After Diogo Dalot’s back pass, Heaton played the ball to Lindelof, whose intended pass to Donny van de Beek was rebuffed by Marcel Sabitzer, who joined Dortmund on loan from Bayern Munich in the summer after playing on loan at Old Trafford last season. Sabitzer found Malen, who graduated cool. Heaton appeared to blame Williams for playing Malen out the side, but the full-back hit back at his keeper as he felt he shouldn’t have played the pass to Lindelof. “My mistake?” Williams was seen speaking to Heaton. “That was your shit.”

Forson had already been replaced by then. The 19-year-old winger was sent off to Julian Ryerson after being blocked by the Dortmund player. Karim Adeyemi reacted angrily and confronted Forson, who pushed him. Both players received a yellow card.

But Erik Ten Hag that had spent a good 30 seconds on the touchline talking to Forson about his behaviour – admitted the teenager would ordinarily have been sent off for kicking out had Var been in operation and said the incident was a learning curve for the youngster.

“When there is a Var, he gets sent off,” he said. “He played a good game and the opponent gets annoyed with him so that is a learning but don’t take it into your own hands. You can’t be the judge, you have to play football, you have to beat your opponent, you have to net and that is the best way to react.”

‘Unforgivable even if it’s a friendly’

United equalised through a cool, low finish from Antony before Dortmund took the lead in the 71st minute when a poor pass by Wan-Bissaka was intercepted by Marco Reus. Reus found Julian Brandt who returned the ball to Reus to cross for Youssoufa Moukoko to score.

Antony (right) celebrates after making it 2-2 CREDIT: Getty Images/Matthew Peters

“I think it was a good tour but you want to finish with a good performance and you see only 60 minutes I was pleased with but not with the goals we conceded because they were really poor,” Ten Hag said.

“The first one was really poor defending and the second one really poor in building up and that is not us. We have to keep control and you have to keep the responsibility on the ball and it was the same on the 3-2 for Dortmund, so [it] can’t happen and it’s unforgivable even if it’s a friendly.”