Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag rips refs after Arsenal loss: 'Definitely many decisions were against us'

The United manager pointed to four different decisions that cost his side

LONDON --For Erik ten Hag this was a game lost in moments, four of them to be precise. His Manchester United side had merited more than they got in a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal, one secured in the dying minutes through Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus. However, a cocktail of decisions that the manager judged to have been incorrect ultimately brought about the visitors' downfall at a jubilant Emirates Stadium. 

Beginning with a penalty to Arsenal awarded and then rescinded by Anthony Taylor, who concluded there had been insufficient contact on Kai Havertz to merit a spot kick, Ten Hag felt aggrieved. In this instance it was that the German had not then received a booking for diving. Replays suggested there was contact, but not of the meaningful level to prompt a penalty.

From there came a cavalcade of dramatic late moments leading to Rice volleying in from a corner, one where Ten Hag believed Gabriel was hindering Jonny Evans attempts to play the ball. Earlier on, the Arsenal defender had been grappling with substitute Rasmus Hojlund in the area, United appeals waived away by Taylor. Moments later it seemed Alejandro Garnacho had won it, bursting in behind the Gunners backline, only for VAR to conclude that the young winger had accelerated just beyond Gabriel into an offside position.

"The performance was right but the result was not on our side," said Ten Hag. "Definitely, many decisions were against us.

"Let's start at the penalty given but rejected. Everyone sees it's a [dive] but [Havertz does not] get booked for it. Then, foul on [Rasmus] Hojlund in the penalty area, not even noticed I don't think, not even by the VAR. Then the disallowed goal by Garnacho, I think wrong angle, I think it's onside.

"The [second] goal, how can they allow that goal? It's a clear and obvious foul on Jonny Evans, who should have blocked the shot from Declan Rice. There's a lot."

In most cases it is easy to see why Ten Hag might feel aggrieved though what angle he would propose for confirming that Garnacho was onside was not clear. Equally, none of Taylor's decisions stood out as egregious errors and Arteta could well have been the one entering the Emirates Stadium media room with a face like thunder if his side had dropped points after the Havertz penalty was overruled.

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Set aside those instances and Ten Hag had an altogether more positive assessment of the 100-plus minutes that constituted perhaps the game of the season so far. "Our performance was very good. I will not say that we were perfect, it's not possible at this stage of the game. There's definitely room for improvement but if we see in respect of compactness, pressing, moving with the ball, making counters, in possession: very calm. We never gave Arsenal the opportunity to press us when we were playing under their pressure.

"The next stage, we could have done that better. To get the next pass has to do with the movement in the right moments. There were a lot of positives in this game. It's logical that at this stage of the season there's room for improvement."

It is easier to agree with Ten Hag's belief that there is room for improvement than that United were especially good. Undeniably, they had their moments and they remain as devastating a force in transition as they have been throughout recent years. When Marcus Rashford found himself isolated with Ben White in the 27th minute the outcome felt inevitable as he crafted just enough space to bend a shot out of Aaron Ramsdale's reach.

Andre Onana's presence between the posts has immediately quelled the danger that comes when any opponent presses the United backline. There was something of the high wire act to how Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof, both forced off through injury in the second half, dealt with the ball when their goalkeeper clipped it over an Arsenal forward and into their path, but that has to be set against the one moment where United looked like a thoroughly modern team, Onana slipping a ball in behind Eddie Nketiah, allowing Lisandro Martinez to drive forward. That moment led to one of the visitors' best chances, Anthony Martial drawing a save from Ramsdale before William Saliba blocked Rashford on the rebound.

Still, this was a team with precious few ideas on how to advance themselves into Arsenal territory. The visitors might have had 45 percent possession -- and indeed more of the ball in the first half -- but too much of it was in areas where they were the ones in danger, hunted by Martin Odegaard's pack of pressing Arsenal attackers. When the dangerous Gabriel Martinelli alone has just one fewer touch in your third of the pitch than your entire front four have in Arsenal's, the field is tilting against you.

Ten Hag might have focused on the decisions of officials, on another day Arteta might have been bemoaning the clear cut close range chances missed by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. Instead, he was in altogether more playful mood, laughing off the latest rush of Emirates endorphins. "I told them yesterday that was what was gonna happen," he said when asked if his players had planned for another grandstand finish. "I didn't want to tell the crowd so that there was a bit of emotion there."

That there certainly was, the swing of Rice's boot unleashing a roar of deafening force. This was not Arsenal at their best for 90 minutes, but for much of the game they were much better. Martinelli in particular barging to the byline at will whilst Eddie Nketiah knitted the attack together with elan. Restoring last season's system in which Oleksandr Zinchenko inverts into midfield brought far greater zip to the Gunners passing, though his drifting ever further to the right flank does make one wonder if too many accommodations are being made to get Rice in his favorite spots on the left side of midfield.

There are foibles to this team too, but within that they still managed to dictate the terms of this game. The key moments might not have swung Ten Hag's way but neither did the balance of the contest as a whole. In such circumstances it is perhaps no great shock that the result eventually favored Arsenal.