Erik ten Hag was unhappy with his players after Manchester United suffered a 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace that damaged their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.
Now in eighth place, Ten Hag's side are behind Chelsea on goal difference and two points behind sixth-placed Newcastle United with three matches to go.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 |
Spurs
TOT
|
38 | +13 | 66 |
| 6 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +14 | 63 |
| 7 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +23 | 60 |
| 8 |
Man Utd
MUN
|
38 | -1 | 60 |
“As Manchester United, we should perform better,” Ten Hag told the club website. “The players who were available should do better. It's a deserved defeat. The performance wasn't what we expected.
“There are always reasons [why we are not good enough]. Everyone can see our backline, there we have huge problems but, at the end of the day, we have to deal with it. We should have done better than we did.
“All season, we have huge problems and by now, this is the fourth defeat in this calendar year, so that's not a lot and every time, we had huge problems and many times, we sort it out. Today, we didn't.
“You can't put this to one player. It's a team performance. The throw-in where you concede the first goal, that shouldn't happen and that is as a team because we don't follow their rules. We don't adapt to the different situations to organise, to keep control in those situations. Five players over the ball and they have a throw-in, it is not possible.”
“I don't think about this [my future]. I prepare the team in the best way I can. We have many problems. The only focus I have is to perform better with my team. I think only about making my team better.
“You know that [how damaging the result is], especially when you come to the end. But still, we have nine points to play [for] and we have to fight for the nine points. We have to put it right on Sunday. We have to learn from this game and improve.”
Man Utd face Arsenal in their next match on Sunday at Old Trafford before hosting Newcastle and ending the season with a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion.
