Erik ten Hag hails ‘perfect night’ as Man United beat Barnsley

MANCHESTER, England — Erik ten Hag hailed a “perfect night” after Manchester United beat Barnsley 7-0 in the Carabao Cup.

Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Christian Eriksen all scored twice while Antony found the net from the penalty spot as Ten Hag recorded the biggest win of his reign.

It was also United’s largest margin of victory since beating Southampton 9-0 in February 2021 under former boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“Not for me but for the team this is the perfect night,” Ten Hag said afterwards. “I think we could do everything that we planned to do; how we win, next round, scored some great goals, entertained the fans, we worked on our game model so we are happy.”

Ten Hag was able to rotate his squad against League One Barnsley, making eight changes from the team that beat Southampton 3-0 on Saturday.

Rashford was one of three players to keep his place and followed up his goal at the weekend with another two.

It was the first time the England forward has scored more than one in a game since scoring twice in a 3-0 win over Leicester in February 2023.

“I know from my first season here that when he scores then, for the team, it’s more easy,” said Ten Hag. “When you have a player in your squad who is a guarantee for goals then it can make the difference. You can do a lot of things very well between the boxes but football matches are decided in the box.”

United have bounced back from the 3-0 defeat to Liverpool by scoring 10 goals without conceding against Southampton and Barnsley.

“I was not devastated after Liverpool and I am not celebrating now,” said Ten Hag. “It is a never-ending process. I know where I want to go, in which direction. I know we have a lot of speed, dynamic and we have seen this today and we have players capable of dominating possession. We have to work even harder to get all the stages of the game right.”