“We are taking too many risks” – Diogo Dalot comments on Erik Ten Hag not being worried about Manchester United’s defensive issue

Manchester United was trailing twice when facing Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium, before concluding the game with a draw thanks to Bruno Fernandes’ brace. Erik Ten Hag the manager played down the defensive issue about how many shots his side have conceded this season. 

United have conceded 574 shots this season so far, only Luton Town suffered more with 576. The Dutch manager said that as long as the goalkeeper took care of it and his team was not losing, it was not a big deal.  

“As long as we get results, no,” the former Ajax tactician said. “I explained it once more, we defended low at times and because Brentford are very direct we lost many many second balls and we had to defend the box. 

“We had a great goalkeeper, he was brilliant tonight, we have to say that also. Our results are quite consistent from January on but we concede shots, but we don’t concede so many goals.”

Diogo Dalot comments on Erik Ten Hag’s views: “Taking this as a learning process”

However, United’s Portuguese full-back Diogo Dalot takes it as a serious matter. The former Porto player admitted that his team have been working on the issue, adding that the defending structure between the midfield and the backline is also something to solve in the future. 

“I think it’s a fact, something we are looking for,” Dalot said via Manchester Evening News. “Maybe we are taking too many risks, sometimes the gap between the defence and midfield is a little bit too big. 

“This is why we are sometimes getting the counter-attacks too many times and are conceding too many shots, but overall we are looking forward to taking this as a learning process and trying to do better.

Due to the draw at Vitality, United failed to knock Newcastle United from sixth on the table despite collecting the same 50 points. Dalot then stressed on some points where United were switching off during the game. 

“I’m disappointed. We wanted to come here and get the three points. We were down twice, so we had the hunger to fight for the game. I think we lost control in situations we shouldn’t and that was the script of the match.

“I mean, we lost a little bit of control, especially building up from the back in situations where we shouldn’t and we conceded two goals in the first half – we could have avoided that, but overall we have the attitude to fight for the result and that’s a positive to take away.”.

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