“I’m happy with three goals and there could have been more,” Ten Hag excited with win

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said he was pleased with his team’s performance in their 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.

He has also challenged his players to be more productive in front of goal.

The Red Devils were playing their first league match since the World Cup break and were dominant against the Forest side.

Goals by Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial inside the first half proved crucial and put the home side in a comfortable position to win the game. Brazilian Fred added a third few minutes before the end of the game.

“I’m happy with three goals and there could have been even more, and a clean sheet, so I think we have a good return after the break,” Ten Hag said. “It was nice to watch our game. We are growing but, after a break, you see always a setback and a drop in performance.”

United are fifth in the Premier League table, one point behind fourth-placed Tottenham having played a game fewer.

There have been signs of progress under the Dutch manager following a poor start to the campaign, with goals quite hard to come by. Only Chelsea (19) have scored less than United’s 23 in the teams in the top-half of the table. Meanwhile, only after Tuesday’s win have United gained a positive goal difference.

“We have to score more goals. I think we created so many chances, it takes us until just before the end to make the third goal. I think we have to finish the game in earlier moments,” the manager stated.

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“I think just after half-time, we created two really good chances and we have to finish the game. I think our players can score, you can see that, Martial is a goalscorer, Rashford is a goalscorer, Bruno Fernandes scores goals, so we have a lot of players who can score goals but we have to be ruthless.”

Rashford looks like he’s found his flair in front of goal as he was also productive before the World Cup break. The 25-year-old has scored 13 goals for club and country so far this season and Ten Hag believes there is still much more to come.

“There is still room for improvement from Marcus but this [performance] was at a good level and he’s unstoppable if he keeps in this spirit, this focus,” he said. “I am sure the process will keep going and he’ll score more goals and get more assists.”

Ten Hag also praised Brazilian midfielder Casemiro for a brilliant performance on the night.

“It is a pleasure to work with him, I think everyone sees how important his role is. The performance, the level he brings to the team is huge.” Ten Hag said.