Manchester United manager, Erik Ten Hag has slammed his team’s decision-making after losing 1-0 to Crystal Palace on Saturday, Sportivationng.com reports.
Crystal Palace secured a third win in their last six games at M16 through Joachim Andersen’s 25th-minute volley to leave United with four defeats from their first seven league games.
United have not lost as many league matches at this stage of the season since 1989 and their return of nine points from the opening seven games is their worst in four years.
The players were booed off at full time after another poor performance.
“I understand,” Ten Hag said.
“We played at home and we play Crystal Palace we have to win and with all respect. I know every game in the Premier League is difficult, you have to play your best but I understand fans expect a win and we didn’t win, we lost.
“Of course, that is the concern (that this could be the pattern for United’s season) and we have to be more consistent. So there is not a demand for Man United; the demand is that we get a row of wins and we have to do better than we do now.
“I can give you reasons (for the defeat) but you will explain it as an excuse and there are no excuses. We have to win.
“We lost now two games in a row in the Premier League, clear, but I won’t set that conclusion now. We have to do better, that is definitely the case, and we have to show it also in our body language that Old Trafford is a fortress and you can’t get anything here and the only way you can go away with is a loss. So we have to do better here.
“We lost now two games in a row in the Premier League, clear, but I won’t set that conclusion now. We have to do better, that is definitely the case, and we have to show it also in our body language that Old Trafford is a fortress and you can’t get anything here and the only way you can go away with is a loss. So we have to do better here.
“I think I can’t blame the players [with] ‘they didn’t run’. They gave everything. But in the final part in both boxes, we didn’t do well. We only conceded three chances and they were from set-plays, so that tells me we were in control.
Ten Hag has urged his team to be more clinical to recover from their poor start to the 2023-24 season.
“We have to be more clinical and more determined. We want to be more determined. If you want to score a goal, you have to show more willingness to get more impact to score a goal.
“It is not a matter of luck, you can’t explain it like this. It is the form of today from the team. I think we get into the right spot and then you have to make the right decisions to create more.
“But even I think we created many occasions in front of the goal and we have to net and we didn’t. We can only blame ourselves.”
Up next for Manchester United is a Champions League clash against Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
