Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag claimed his side deserved to end Thursday’s 4-3 defeat at Chelsea as winners.
The Red Devils battled well to come back from an early two-goal deficit, with an Alejandro Garnacho double and one from Bruno Fernandes putting the visitors 3-2 up heading into the closing stages.
However, United unravelled all their hard work when Diogo Dalot conceded a stoppage-time penalty, with Cole Palmer slotted home from the spot. Almost immediately from the resulting kick-off, Palmer scored a 101st-minute winner.
United had similarly led deep into second-half added time before succumbing to a 1-1 draw at Brentford last Saturday and dropped points in an equally inconceivable manner down the road at Chelsea this time around.
Speaking to TNT Sports post-match, Ten Hag insisted United were dominant and were deserving of all three points.
“Yes we started poor, kicking the ball away and defending poorly,” Ten Hag began. “But you saw we were dominating the game and it was brilliant how we played – we deserved to win the game. But, you cannot give it away like we did and we have to manage this game better.
“It is a team performance, you can point to one of the players but it’s about a team performance.
“When it gets chaotic you have to deal with it as a team and we made the wrong decisions and we didn’t help out as a team. Out of possession we made bad decision – a lack of concentration.
“Also, I think lucky at the end with the penalty situation, questionable and very soft but we have to do better.”
- Ten Hag: Dropping points is unacceptable
Speaking later to BBC Sport, Ten Hag continued to highlight’s dominance of the game but admitted that the number of points dropped is “unacceptable” for a team of United’s calibre.
“It was for the neutral an amazing game. A fantastic football game with a lot of quality,” the Dutchman remarked. “Manchester United dominated the game but we made individual errors that cost us the game.
“We have to learn from it. When you are a Man Utd player you should already know how to deal with this circumstance.
“I enjoyed how my team were playing, it was fantastic. We dominated the ball, we dominated the opponent.
“In five days we dropped five points. That is unacceptable. We should have a high standard if we want to compete for Champions League football.
“I don’t know [if top four is gone]. I have to see again the ranking. Points will be more expensive. It’s very disappointing we’re doing this and making the wrong decisions. We gave away a game we should have won.”
What we know
- Man Utd lost 4-3 at Chelsea in chaotic match on Thursday night
- Cole Palmer scored in 100th and 101st minutes to swing game back to Blues after Red Devils came from two goals down
- Erik ten Hag was pleased with how his side played at Stamford Bridge.