“We started well, couple of chances and then an unecessary goal from a couple of mistakes that cannot happen,” the Manchester United boss tells BT Sport. “You have to take responsibility. Then we had a really bad 10 minutes and we have to learn from that.”
On his half-time changes: “Some couple of things because we were too static. More runs, we had to get in behind. That is why we made two subs in that time and they really had an impact. I think the subs had really an impact today."
“We rode our luck a lot of times,” the Omonia manager tells BT Sport. “Whether it was good goalkeeping or United missing good chances and to score two goals against them is probably more than I could have imagined. Once we scored we started to believe in ourselves and it gave us something to hold on to. They got two quickfire goals but we had chances at 2-1 to get level and then the third goal has killed us. On the balance of play United thoroughly deserved to win.”
Match report: Omonia Nicosia 2-3 Manchester United
Europa League: Erik ten Hag applied a desperately required change to save Manchester United from a second humiliation in four days,” writes Jamie Jackson from the GSP Stadium. “Losing at the interval, the Dutchman brought on Marcus Rashford then and Anthony Martial a little later and they scored the goals that turned embarrassing defeat into Group E victory.”
“It’s defintiely job done but we would have liked to play better,” the man of the match tells BT Sport. “I wouldn’t say that we defended bad but it was just mistakes and they happen in football, so you just have to move on.”
On the first half [in which he did not play]: “In the first half we were playing well, we had good movement and we could probably have got in behind them a little more and had more threat on goal. When the manager made the subs he just wanted us to be a little bit more dynamic and take more chances going forward. We made positive changes at half-time and got back into the game.”
Elsewhere in Group E: Real Sociedad have beaten Sheriff 2-0 and go top of the group with nine points from three games. Manchester United sit in second place, three points clear of Sheriff. Omonia are bottom of the group and yet to get off the board.
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeep! Having taken the most unlikely of first half leads against the run of play through Karim Ansarifard, Omonia Nicosia were punished by some shrewd substitutions by Erik Ten Hag. Marcus Rashford scored two and created one for Anthony Martial as United raced into a 3-1 second-half lead but they were given a fright by an Omonia Nicosia side who pulled a goal back towards the end of a fine home performance and deserve immense credit.
90+4 min: Omonia win a free-kick and loft the ball into the penalty area. It’s cleared and that’s it. Manchester United have won, by the skin of their teeth.
90+3 min: Ronaldo sprints into the Omonia penalty area with the ball at his feet. A Cruyff turn later, he curls a shot wide of the upright before unleashing a “barbaric yawp” of frustration into the heavens over Cyprus.
90 min: Their tails up, Omonia plug on in search of an equaliser but get caught on the break. Cristiano Ronaldo receives a pass from Anthony Martial on the left side of the home side’s penalty area but is forced to check his run before running into traffic and is eventually crowded off the ball.
GOAL! Omonia Nicosia 2-3 Manchester United (Panagiotou 85)
Omonia score again! They cut through Manchester United like a hot knife through butter and Kakouliiis squares the ball for Panagiotou, who fires past David De Gea.
Omonia's Nikolas Panagiotou (right) celebrates scoring their second goal with Fotis Papoulis. Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters
GOAL! Omonia Nicosia 1-3 Manchester United (Rashford 84)
United stretch their lead. Was it a low diagonal shot from Ronaldo or was it a cross? Only he knows but whatever it was, Marcus Rashford is on hand to tap home at the far post from three or four yards out.
Marcus Rashford of Manchester United celebrates scoring their third goal with Cristiano Ronaldo. Photograph: Ash Donelon/Manchester United/Getty Images
82 min: Martial tries to play Ronaldo in behind with a weighted pass that’s superbly cut out by Hector Yuste. Excellent defending. Having missed so many chances, not least that open goal a couple of minutes ago, Ronaldo is cutting a forlorn figure.
81 min: Kakoullis is played down the inide left and wins a corner for Omonia. Nothing comes of it. Manchester United substitution: Scott McTominay on for Casemiro.
77 min: Chance! Teed up by Dalot, with the Omonia goalkeeper out of the equation and the goal he’s supposed to be guarding empty and gaping, Cristiano Ronaldo somehow spanks the ball against the upright. An astonishing miss.
76 min: Rashford holds the ball up on the left side of the Omonia penalty area and plays it forward to shaw on the overlap. He squares it across the face of goal but Omonia clear.
75 min: Just on for Antony, Fred handles the ball in his own penalty area but it’s completely accidental and the offending limb is hanging by his side. Omonia’s players and fans appeal for a penalty but don’t get one.
73 min: Bruno Felipe, so instrumental in the build-up to Omonia’s goal, is substituted after a good performance but jogs off shaking his head in frustration after missing that wonderful chance to restore parity. He’s replaced by Loizos Loizou.
69 min: Bruno misses a glorious opportunity to level proceedings for Omonia. Running on to a through ball and with David De Gea in no-man’s land, the Brazilian tries to lift the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net but make’s a pig’s ear of his effort. De Gea saves comfortably.
65 min: It’s a deft piece of improvised backheeled inspiration from Marcus Rashford, who plays the ball into his fellow substitute’s path. The Frenchman cuts inside and drills the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from the edge of the penalty area.
GOAL! Omonia Nicosia 1-2 Manchester United (Martial 63)
Martial scores immediately! It’s an inspired substitution from Erik Ten Hag, who sends Anthony Martial on to score with what must have been his first touch.
Anthony Martial puts Manchester United ahead with a fine finish. Photograph: Manchester United/Getty Images
Martial celebrates his goal. Photograph: Manchester United/Getty Images
61 min: Omonia double-substitution: Brandon Barker and Karim Ansarifard off, Kakoullis and Papoulis on. Manchester United substitution: Anthony Martial on for Bruno Fernandes.
59 min: United win themselves a corner, their relief after equalising palpable. Christian Eriksen raises his left arm and sends the ball into the Omonia penalty area, where it’s cleared by the head of Bruno Felipe.
56 min: After a long spell in which United had pinged the ball around the edge of the Omonia penalty area probing for an opening, Antony finds a yard of space and tries his luck. He curls his shot high and wide of the far post.
GOAL! Omonia Nicosia 1-1 Manchester United (Rashford 53)
Rashford equalises! He picks up a wonderful ball from deep, cuts inside Miletic, the defender, takes advantage of the space created by Ronaldo’s decoy run and curls a fine shot inside the far post. Great finish.
Marcus Rashford fires home to put Manchester United back on level terms. Photograph: Manchester United/Getty Images
52 min: A free-kick for Manchester United, about 30 yards from goal, alm ost dead centre. Bruno Fernades whips the ball straight at the Omonia goalkeeper.
51 min:Manchester United look nervy and geuinely rattled in the early stages of this second half and who can blame them? There’s a long way to go but they’re staring down the barrel of what would could be total humiliation.
47 min: Victor Lindelof plays a long diagonal from deep trying to pick out a Luke Shaw run down the inside left. The pass is overhit and the ball sails wide.
An email: “Can we take a minute to notice that the goal scored by Omonia was down to Sancho messing around with the ball, turning away from goal and playing a hospital pass to Malacia,” writes Jay. “Like many before him, he is still waiting to show his best form on a consistent basis for United.”
Peep! Having defended heroically, ridden their luck a little and barely got the ball out of their own penalty area, let alone their own half, on more than a few occasions in the first half, Omonia Nicosia lead courtesy of an excellent goal scored on the break by Karim Ansarifard. Oh to be a fly on the wall in the Manchester United dressing-room …
