Manchester United manager Eric Ten Hag has expressed his displeasure following his side’s 4-0 defeat against Crystal Palace in a Premier League game on Monday.
The Red Devils, who were without some of their regular players due to injuries, struggled to live up to expectations against the Eagles and suffered an embarrassing defeat with Michael Olise’s brace, Jean-Philipee Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell strikes ensuring they are now winless in their last two games.
Ten Hag admitted his team underwhelmed and expressed his dissatisfaction while praising the fans for their unrelenting support for his side.
Ten Hag said: “It is clear and it is obvious, this is underperforming. We didn’t act how we want to do it and it’s by far not good enough. We are very disappointed, but the fans were always behind us and we keep fighting, like the fans did. I was really grateful [to the fans]. They back us. They see also we have our problems. You have to stick together. You have to take responsibility. The fans gave us such huge and tremendous support.
“As Manchester United, we should perform better. 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.”
Ten Hag has lauded the effort of Jonny in the encounter but revealed that the defender is still not at his best while revealing the efforts he has been making to ensure the stability of his side.
He continued: “Huge respect for Jonny that he stepped in [for Harry Maguire], but he wasn’t ready to go into the game. He only had two days’ training, so that is one example. But he played for 90 minutes and it was a real reward that he did this. But of course he can’t play to the levels what he can normally do.
“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.
“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.”
Manchester United will take on Arsenal in a Premier League game on May 12.
