ERIK TEN HAG said it was “unacceptable” that his Manchester United side conceded early in both halves against Leeds before fighting back to draw 2-2.
Wilfried Gnonto opened the scoring for Leeds inside the opening minute for the managerless Elland Road outfit.
Ten Hag looking dejected during Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Leeds.Richard Pelham / The Sun
The relegation-threatened Whites doubled their lead early in the second half as World Cup-winning defender Raphael Varane put the ball through his own net following Crysencio Summerville’s cutback.
Speaking after the game Ten Hag told reporters: ” It’s unacceptable. You start any game, but especially a derby, the way we did. We were down and had to fight back. We made big mistakes.”
Ten Had added: “When we lost the ball, we didn’t follow the principles and were quickly down and from the warning in the first half, the second half was the same.”
The Dutchman would have been happy with how his side responded as goals from Marcus Rashford and the returning Jadon Sancho earned the Red Devils a point.
Rashford is in the form of his life and the academy graduate now has 20 goals in all competitions this season and 12 since the World Cup.
He netted his 11th Premier League goal of the season, heading home from Diogo Dalot’s cross to get United back into the game.
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Sancho, who has only just returned to first team action following physical and mental issues, got the equaliser as he converted after Luke Shaw’s shot had been blocked.
United went in search of a winner but couldn’t find one as Illan Meslier made an excellent save to deny Varane.
United missed the chance to move level on points with rivals Manchester City and remain third with 43 points from 22 games.
The point moved Leeds above West Ham united into 16th just a single point above the relegation zone.