A delighted Erik ten Hag praised Manchester United’s “best team performance” of the season after the 2-0 defeat of Tottenham, but the manager again had to deal with the distraction of Cristiano Ronaldo walking down the Old Trafford tunnel before the end of the match without the manager’s permission.
Goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes secured United’s sixth win of the campaign. After home wins over Liverpool and Arsenal, three top-six sides have now been beaten at Old Trafford. Ten Hag said: “I am pleased with the team – it was the best performance so far this season so you see a team developing, you already see the last weeks [how] we want to play. We get every day better on the pitch. Not every game will be like today but Spurs is a magnificent team and it was really enjoyable to watch.”
Ronaldo had been dropped for Marcus Rashford and after Scott McTominay, Anthony Elanga and Christian Eriksen were introduced as second-half substitutes he headed for the United dressing room before the final whistle without permission, as he had done before the end of July’s friendly against Rayo Vallecano.
Ten Hag said: “I don’t pay attention today [to this]. We deal with that tomorrow. We want to focus on this team, it was a magnificent performance from all 11 players. I have seen him [leaving], I didn’t speak to him after.
“I enjoyed the performance – we are celebrating this victory and now we have to recover from this and we have a big game against Chelsea [on Saturday].
“I have to correct myself, not 11 players but the subs who came on, it was a squad performance. What we see today is 11 players who defend and 11 who attack and there was a lot of dynamic in the attack but I would not say I am totally satisfied because that has to be the standard.”
Antonio Conte admitted his side lacked commitment. “In this type of game you need to arrive ready to fight a war and at the end you die or your opponent. We didn’t start the game.”
