Erik ten Hag: Everyone knows why Manchester United recorded worst ever Premier League finish
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Erik ten Hag says “everyone knows” why Manchester United recorded their worst ever Premier League finish.
The Red Devils finished in eighth place - their lowest league finish since 1989/90 - and failed to qualify for European football through their league standing, despite recording a 2-0 victory away at Brighton on the final day.
Brighton dominated for large periods of the game. Still, second-half goals from Diogo Dalot and Rasmus Hojlund meant United had a satisfying end to an often cheerless Premier League season.
Speaking post-match, the Dutch boss said: "It is not good enough by far. We should have done better. We know the reasons behind, everyone knows, but it is not the right moment to go into it. It’s not good enough."
Manchester United will miss out on European football for the first time in ten years if they fail to beat Manchester City, who are fresh from winning their unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title, in next Saturday’s FA Cup Final.
Looking ahead to the FA Cup decider, in what is a repeat of last season’s final, Ten Hag confirmed that Lisandro Martinez, Marcus Rashford, and Raphael Varane will be fit enough to feature.
He added: “It was good to bring players back. They worked hard, desperate to play the final games of the season and especially the FA Cup final next week.
“We will put a competitive team out and we will fight for the cup."
Ten Hag opted to start Rasmus Hojlund on the bench against Brighton. The Danish striker started the season slowly after his £72 million move from Atlanta but has hit a fine run of form recently, and drilled in his 10th Premier League goal of the campaign in the second half.
Ten Hag described his decision to start the 21-year-old on the bench as a “luxury problem.”
But he added, “[his goal haul] could always be better. Sixteen goals for his first season is okay and it’s not over. We have the FA Cup final to play.”
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