Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag believes the 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace is his worst as manager of the club.
Two goals in both halves saw United battered by an inform Palace under manager Oliver Glasner, with the Red Devils now in eighth place with a -3 goal difference.
Defeat means their European hopes are now out of their hands, with rivals Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea all having far superior goal differences.
Speaking after the defeat, ten Hag bemoaned his side’s defending, whilst admitting his team are under performing this season:
“It’s a goal that shouldn’t happen because we really give clear instructions how we should defend this,” ten Hag said. “They didn’t bring it on the pitch. We got hammered.
“It is very disappointing. Under-performing. Definitely the worst defeat. We should have done better.
“We are aware, as a team performance, we were not correct, making big mistakes and not following the plan and the script and the rules we have.
“There was one issue but also on the left side, there were two players doubling up on one player. That’s very poor defending.
“You can’t put this [down to] one player. It’s a team performance,” he said. “The throw-in when you concede the first goal, that shouldn’t happen.
“That’s the team because we don’t follow the rules, we don’t adapt to a slightly different situation, to organise, to keep control in that situation. Five players over the ball and they have a throw-in, it’s not possible.
“It’s clear, it’s obvious, this is underperforming. We didn’t act how we wanted to and it’s not good enough. We are very disappointed.”
Watch what else ten Hag had to say here:
