Manchester United coach Erik ten Hag believes he’s seen the future at Old Trafford and he’s loving it.
Despite playing to a 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday, United will be happy that both hitmen Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund found the back of the net. Their goals were cancelled out by Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur.
The Red Devils’ strikers have come under scrutiny of late, with Hojlund only scoring his first Premier League goal of the season on Boxing Day, while Rashford’s strike was his first at Old Trafford since May last year.
Of whether the Englishman is back to the his best, Ten Hag tells MUTV: “We have seen glimpses [of him being back to his best]. The co-operation with Hojlund is growing. The first goal was prepared by Rashford for Hojlund. He also scored a very good goal, so I’m pleased with that.
“We are improving and we’ve seen a glimpse of the future with [19-year-old winger Alejandro] Garnacho, [18-year-old midfielder Kobbie] Mainoo [and 20-year-old] Hojlund of course. I’m very pleased players are returning, like [Lisandro] Martinez, Casemiro and [Luke] Shaw. I’m sure we’ll have a strong side.”
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, meanwhile, rued missing out on a full house of log points and says: “[It was an] outstanding performance given the challenges we had to put a team out [with Heung-min Son at the Asia Cup among five first-team regulars who were absent].
“We’re not here because everything is running our way. We’ve not had an easy year and the only reason we are in the position we are is because the players are willing to put aside adversity.”
Both teams now have a bit of a break, with seventh-placed United next facing Wolves on 1 February, while fifth-placed Spurs’ next league assignment is against Brentford on 31 January.