Erik ten Hag says his Manchester United side played “very well” against Bayern Munich despite crashing out of the Champions League at the group stage with a 1-0 defeat to the German champions.
Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the game in the second half to ensure United finish bottom of a group which also includes Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.
ten Hag’s side won just one of their six group games but the United boss insists he can take positives from the disastrous campaign.
“I think we had the opportunities in games, we were in winning positions,” ten Hag explained.
“We scored many goals but also we have to see that we gave it away, sometimes by individual errors, not by one player but by more players, not every time the same.
“We gave the opponent the opportunity to return. But if you assess that, we also had very good spells in those games but we have to do better.
“The effects are that we don’t have enough points so that is of course disappointing. We are disappointed as a group, as a manager I’m disappointed but we should have done better.
“There are still many things to play for and now we can of course focus on the Premier League. This is the level we want to play, the Champions League, so we have to give everything to be in the top four so next year we are back in the Champions League.”
United were blighted by injuries during their defeat to Bayern with Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw both forced off and ten Hag says injuries to key players have also been a factor throughout their disappointing Champions League group stage.
“It’s a symbol today, we had to make subs and we’re losing players who are very decisive for our game, who can make a difference,” he said.
“In many games that was also the case in this campaign that we have not always had the players available that we wanted to play.
“I give you a reason but don’t see it as an excuse because even when we are not all on board, we still have to win because that is the target for Manchester United.”
