Erik ten Hag believes Christian Eriksen will play a key role for this season but claims his attacking players delivered an ‘unacceptable’ performance against on Saturday.
United suffered their first defeat of their campaign this summer as Joao Felix sealed a 1-0 win for Diego Simeone’s side in Oslo.
Eriksen, meanwhile, came off the bench to make his first appearance for a United shirt and should have been credited with an assist as his excellent delivery was met by Harry Maguire, who missed with a header from six yards out.
Asked about Eriksen’s cameo after the game, Ten Hag highlighted the midfielder’s importance of the midfielder to United’s attack.
‘We know what he is able to do,’ Ten Hag told MUTV.
‘I think with our front men he’s able to give them, in the right moment, the right pass, so he will create chances and then it’s about finishing.’
Ten Hag also admitted he was unhappy with United’s failure to finish chances against Atletico.
‘In the end it’s about the result and the score was not good,’ said Ten Hag.
‘You have to benefit if you create chances and I thought he created many chances to produce at least one goal, we didn’t do it.
‘From the fewer chances they created they scored one. That point I’m not satisfied.
‘I’ve told the team it’s not acceptable. You have to be sharp in the box on both sides.
‘Our possession game and our transition game was really good, we created a lot of threat for them. We had weapons, we created opportunities, on that point I was really satisfied.
‘Also from set-plays, a big chance for Harry Maguire, so we had enough but it wasn’t enough to win the game and that’s always our aim.’
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