Sport

Christian Eriksen makes concerning confession about Man United dressing room after disappointing European opener

What's even more distressing is that his manager and several teammates seemed to agree afterwards.

Danny Jones - 26th September 2024

Manchester United didn’t get this year’s European campaign off to the greatest start on Wednesday night after dragging out a disappointing result against FC Twente, and Christian Eriksen was the first to deliver a damning confession about the attitude in the dressing room at half-time.

The Danish midfielder grabbed the opening goal of the night – his third in the last three – but Man United were guilty of resting on their laurels and the Dutch side managed to pull a goal back with just over 20 minutes until the final whistle.

The 32-year-old ultimately turned out to be both the de-facto hero and ‘villain’ of the piece, as despite putting his team in front just after half an hour, he also lost the ball in the middle of the park, allowing opposition striker Sam Lammers to make it 1-1.

Placing himself in front of the media after the game, Eriksen didn’t hesitate to hold his hands up but even more concerningly than the nature of the performance was what he admitted to the fans about the United dressing room.

Not only did he roll out the standard “feel like a loss” line as you would expect before quickly admitting that the players said in the changing room that “it felt like they wanted it more than us” and despite insisting that this “can’t be right”, they were guilty of not capitalising on their lead.

Eriksen’s goal itself was a wonderful strike but it was the lack of commitment and combativeness in the midfield, it seems, that saw them drop two points against a side most would expect them to beat.

Midfielder partner Manuel Ugarte, though still admittedly new to the club and the manager’s system, came out on social media to concede, “I’m the first to make self-criticism. It wasn’t a great match personally. We have to keep working.”.

However, it was the words from the manager in the post-match that made Eriksen’s assessment even more damning as he essentially echoed the same sentiment as his player, stating that not only did they get “punished” for not scoring a second and that “They looked like they wanted it more.”

He went on to make it clear that Lammer’s leveller was “[a team goal]”, adding, “A player of Twente can dribble through the pitch without stopping. We can’t give a goal away like this.”

"In the second half we dropped a level and gave a goal away."

Erik ten Hag reacts to Man United's draw with FC Twente 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Fj6sV6WURS

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) September 25, 2024

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Although he assured supporters watching on that they are professionals and have already accepted that they cannot be satisfied with their own level of performance, this is by far from the first time the Red Devils have failed to take chances and kill games.

It must also be concerning for fans to hear both the manager and a senior player confessing the same ‘unacceptable’ attitude in the dressing room. The result meant that this was ten Hag has notched just one win in his last nine games in charge of United – five of those being defeats.

There was no lack of desire from Twente or their fans, meanwhile, as they even turned up a day early to watch Man City’s League Cup match.

You can watch the highlights from Man United vs FC Twente, including that Eriksen goal, down below:

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Featured Images — TNT Sports YouTube (via screenshot)