“I’m used to it”: Erik ten Hag bemoans poor penalty decision that went against his side in draw vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has bemoaned a poor refereeing decision against his side, in which Alejandro Garnacho was denied what appeared like a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur.

United and Tottenham played out a 2-2 stalemate at Old Trafford.

Goals from Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford ensured both sides got a point. Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur were Tottenham’s goalscorers.

The most controversial moment of the match occurred when Garnacho thought he deserved a penalty for being illegally brought down inside the box by Destiny Udogie.

The Argentine winger was trying to maintain possession in attack and it seemed like Udogie had his hands firmly around him before sending the United star tumbling to the ground.

Udogie then skipped past Garnacho and continued with play. The referee allowed proceedings to carry on. VAR agreed with the on-pitch decision, much to the disappointment of the Red Devils.

After the final whistle, Ten Hag was asked about the incident. He refused to be drawn into speaking about it at length but explained that it wasn’t the first time this season that his players have found themselves on the wrong end of extremely poor decisions by the referee.

The Dutchman also referenced Romero’s handball in the reverse tie at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which United were wrongfully denied.

When asked whether he was angry, Ten Hag said, “What can you do about that? I’m used to it. All season this has been the case. So yeah, in Spurs it was similar – a handball from Romero. I can list more [wrongful decisions]. I think at some point in the season it [luck] will turn to our side, let’s hope for that.”

Ten Hag revealed the reason behind Aaron Wan-Bissaka playing at left-back.

He remarked, “We expected Luke Shaw and trained with him in preparation for this game, but this morning he dropped out, not fit enough to start. So to change then back and adapt our gameplan was too much, so we decided to put Wan-Bissaka on the left and keep Diogo [Dalot] on the right side.”

When asked whether United are light in midfield, the 53-year-old coach pointed out, “No, I don’t think we’re lightweight in there. We put out Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen and Kobbie Mainoo – I would not say that’s light-weighted.”

“I think we can be more calm. We’ve talked before and it has a lot to do with the routines in the back four. Every time we have to adjust there and today yet again in the last moment, you have to replace a player and it had a big impact on our game.”

Up next for the Red Devils is a fourth-round FA Cup against either Newport County or Eastleigh in two weeks – enough time for the players to get enough rest and for Ten Hag to drill them further in the training ground.