By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was in defiant mood after being handed a touchline suspension following his team’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Luton Town on Saturday.
The Dutchman was shown his third yellow card of the season as Victor Lindelof scored the only goal to earn United their second league win in a row to lift the gloom at Old Trafford after United’s poor start to the campaign.
“There is a certain point you have to accept decisions, I should do as well,” Ten Hag told reporters.
Ten Hag, booked for arguing about a throw-in decision late in the game, will have to watch from the stands when United travel to Everton on Nov. 26.
“We have a very competent coaching staff and they will take over, and of course up to a certain point I can be involved,” he said.
United’s second successive Premier League victory gave Ten Hag and his team a bit of breathing room as defender Lindelof’s rare 59th-minute goal sent their fans home happy.
“We could have made life more easy when you score goals, but I think we create many chances,” Ten Hag said.
“We had to fight until the end and then it’s maybe not the prettiest, but I’m happy that we created many chances.”
Rasmus Hojlund, who scored twice in Wednesday’s Champions League loss at Copenhagen and had a couple of excellent chances against Luton, went straight for treatment after Ten Hag took him off late in the game.
“In this moment I can’t tell anything about it because I don’t know, he did an assessment, but you have to wait for 24 hours, what is what is the conclusion,” Ten Hag said.
Luton have mustered only one win in their debut Premier League season and face a tough challenge to retain their place in the top flight.
“I go into every game believing that we can win or get something from it,” Luton manager Rob Edwards said. “But it is just a huge challenge, the Premier League is so so difficult. The players are really good.
“This club (United) are in a difficult moment, the expectation’s on them today, credit to them, they won the game. We fought really, really hard and showed a lot of good qualities.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
