Erik ten Hag claims Man Utd broke the rules vs Leicester & says one player saved the day

Manchester United may have beaten Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday, but Erik ten Hag was disappointed with his team’s performance in the early stages at Old Trafford.

United were second best in the opening exchanges, with Leicester registered nine shots inside the first 20 minutes, while David de Gea had to be on hand to keep out Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho strikes. But the tide turned on 25 minutes when Marcus Rashford scored, and from then on it was United who dictated proceedings.

Yet Ten Hag was still frustrated with the start his side made, when speaking after the match, with the Dutchman praising De Gea who gave United a platform to build from.

“I was really unhappy by our performance. We have to follow the rules and principles from our way of playing. When you don’t, it is getting a mess,” he said. “When you face a good opponent like Leicester you will conceded chances. It was only due to David de Gea that we don’t concede a goal.

“We were really lucky at half-time we were one goal up - great pass from Bruno [Fernandes], great finish from Rashy. But the rest is rubbish.”

Rashford’s goal gave United a 1-0 lead at the break, and the attacker netted again just before the hour mark to double the Red Devils’ advantage, a goal that all but took the game away from the Foxes. Jadon Sancho added a third soon after as the match petered out in the final stages and resulted in a comfortable win for United. It leaves Ten Hag’s men three points behind second-place Manchester City and five off leaders Arsenal, albeit United have played a game more.

“Second half we play like the principles and the rules of the game from us,” said Ten Hag. “We transfer the gameplan and you see we were dictating the game. With Jadon on the pitch there is a lot of space in the midfield to get more play between the lines, more dynamics, it works really well him and Bruno on that side.

“I think with Wout [Weghorst] up front we get better pressing. That is due to the face that we are dominating the game and finishing the game. It is a deserved win but the meaning of first goal is important.”