Erik ten Hag was left frustrated by Manchester United’s wasteful finishing, singling out Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford as his side survived some nervy moments to pick up a narrow 2-1 win over Luton.
The visitors made a sensational start at Kenilworth Road, as Rasmus Hojlund scored twice inside seven minutes, including the opener after 37 seconds, to leave United well on course for a fourth straight Premier League win.
But Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho wasted opportunities to extend the advantage, and Carlton Morris then halved the deficit as Luton got themselves back into the match and piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser.
There were more chances after the break for United too, Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho both finding themselves clean through but neither could provide United with the third goal to give them real control.
Instead it was a testing finale, as Ross Barkley’s flicked header hit the bar in the closing seconds, with the United boss bemoaning a lack of ruthless finishing in a match that had only three goals from a total of 43 shots.
“It could have been an easy game after ten minutes, but in the end it was a difficult game because we didn’t take the chances,” Ten Hag told Sky Sports.
“We allowed them to get back into the game. With Garnacho and Rashy, we had big chances to make it three and four nil.”
He added: “Second-half we should have scored. Bruno and Garnacho and Rashford - they were not opportunities, they were 100% chances. One has to go in and then you make your life easy. Now, we kept them in the game.”
In a chaotic first-half, with a huge amount of space on offer for both sides, Harry Maguire was booked for bringing down Morris just outside the box, while Casemiro was very fortunate to avoid a second yellow card as he lunged in on Barkley.
Ten Hag brought both players off at half-time, with Scott McTominay and Jonny Evans introduced for the second period.
“I saw the reaction from the referee,” Ten Hag responded when asked about that double change.
“My thought was maybe with the next [foul] they would go off. I wouldn’t take that risk.
“As well, we have Scott McTominay and Jonny Evans. We have good replacements. So don’t go into that risk, take them off and I think it was the right decision, because you see the performance from both was very good.”
