Erik ten Hag hails United’s spirit as they hit back to win after ‘horror start’

Erik ten Hag was delighted by his players’ response to their “horror start” as Manchester United overcame a two-goal deficit to beat 10-man Nottingham Forest.

After stumbling to victory against Wolves in their Premier League opener and seeing a fine start fade in last weekend’s defeat at Tottenham, things unravelled in the opening four minutes at Old Trafford.

Taiwo Awoniyi scored a decent opener on the break just 86 seconds after kick-off and Willy Boly added another in the fourth minute – the earliest United have ever trailed by two in a Premier League game.

But they dug deep and pulled one back through Christian Eriksen, with Casemiro equalising after the break and Bruno Fernandes scoring a spot-kick to decide the contest shortly after Forest’s Joe Worrall was dismissed.

FULL-TIME Man Utd 3-2 Nott’m Forest@ManUtd trailed by two goals after four minutes, but strikes from Eriksen, Casemiro and Fernandes turn it around for Erik Ten Hag’s side#MUNNFO pic.twitter.com/RM5o0FoE30

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 26, 2023

Ten Hag said with a wink: “We want to give the fans something, eh? Of course, it is a horror start, giving them two goals and making mistakes.

“But I am very pleased with the comeback, with the leadership, how we stayed calm and composed.

“We stick to the plans, stick to the belief and turn it around and I think we played in the meantime very good football out of our plan and out of our principles and rules. We scored good goals.”

Asked if he views the comeback win more positively than negatively, the Dutchman said: “I think every team in the start (of the season) have areas where they have to improve.

“Definitely we have also some, and we have to progress there if you want to be successful.

“But