MU’s 4-2 victory over Newport County still did not lack the familiar fear when they conceded 2 goals due to the subjectivity and laxity of the defense. In addition to the ticket to continue to the 5th round of the FA Cup, what Ten Hag and his team have after the confrontation with the League Two representative is still a fragile MU.
Before this match, Erik ten Hag understood that he could not let MU make any more mistakes. Because, if the Old Trafford team is eliminated from the FA Cup, it means that the Dutch coach’s position will also be “shot” away. Therefore, Ten Hag let the home team play with the strongest squad possible, to be a guest on the field of the English fourth division team.
Off to a good start and deserving of a 2-goal lead, even 3-4 goals if MU’s strikers played more effectively, but coach Erik ten Hag’s team almost ruined their own party with mistakes. Wrong place on defense. Newport, easily got 2 equalizers from Bryn Morris (36′), before Will Evans (47′) leveled the gap, making the home fans extremely excited.
Obviously, after easily leading 2-0 within the first 13 minutes, MU should have won and rushed forward to make the lower-ranked team quickly collapse, but instead their performance slackened. Then I had to pay the price with two defeats. A long ball headed towards Morris for the player to handle neatly before launching a volley from about 25 meters, hitting midfielder Lisandro Martinez on the head, and flying into the net of reserve goalkeeper Altay Bayındır to shorten the score to 1. -2.
At the beginning of the second half, when the MU players were not yet focused, they received a second blow. From Aaron Wildig’s cross, Will Evans crossed the ball accurately from close range, despite being followed by Raphael Varane. . This is this player’s 19th goal of the 2023/24 season and is also the first time MU has conceded twice to a fourth-place opponent since 1970 (beating Northampton Town 8-2 in the end).
Obviously, the subjectivity and laxity of the defense caused the Manchester Red Devils to continuously make mistakes, allowing Newport to easily get 2 equalizers. Fortunately, the strength of the Fourth Division team was only that much and MU still won the ticket to continue. However, coach Ten Hag himself admitted after the match that he was really worried when he witnessed the home team’s first defeat.
“The first 35 minutes, we played very easily and led 2-0. Should have been 3 or 4-0. Then they (Newport) created an unbelievable chance and scored. Then we made a mistake in a defensive situation and the score was 2-2. Everything seems complicated and messy.
We had to start over again. We controlled the game but then we slacked off a bit. Garnacho hit the crossbar. Antony’s shots were very good opportunities. They (Newport) have nothing. Really nothing. But we almost had to pay a heavy price,” the Dutch coach emphasized after the match.
Ten Hag said that there were positive points after this match, such as MU’s early dominance and having “warriors” in the squad to win. However, the former Ajax strategist still needs to do more to convince Sir Jim Ratcliffe that Ten Hag is the most suitable choice to lead MU long term, bringing titles to the Theater of Dreams.
Even after winning 4-2 against Newport, his current MU is still fragile, even though the opponent is just a team from the English fourth division like Newport.
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