Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United got “hammered” as they dropped two precious points in the title race.
Ten Hag admitted his players deserved criticism for not killing off Crystal Palace and sealing a tenth straight win in all competitions before Palace star Michael Olise’s injury time equaliser.
United boss ten Hag also watched in horror as Brazil midfielder Casemiro got booked and will now be suspended for Sunday’s title showdown at Arsenal.
Ten Hag said: “We had control of the game. We had to invest more in the second. At 2-0 it would be over. Then you get hammered with an unlucky moment.
"We were 1-0 up. In the second half we had a lot of space to kill them and go for the second. I never saw we really went for the second goal. I have to criticise my team. Go for the second."
Ten Hag, who also claimed that United were denied a penalty when substitute Scott McTominay went down under Chris Richards’ challenge, insisted they can still beat Arsenal without Casemiro.
"From my perspective [they should have had a penalty] but VAR and the referee make the decision. We have to accept it,” said ten Hag.
"The last time we beat Arsenal without Casemiro so this time we need to do the same. The booking was instinctive. He missed the ball. It’s quite clear it could have been a dangerous situation. He wanted to stop it and that was his reaction.”
Join the debate! What did you make of Man Utd's performance against Crystal Palace? Let us know here.
United scorer Bruno Fernandes said: “We knew it was tough to play here, we could even have lost. We are not happy with a draw and should have taken our chances to close the game. A great goal at the end.
“We missed chances, one pass more or the cross and pass was not good enough. We are not happy with one point but we have to look forward now. We have to understand we are still doing good things.”
Palace boss Patrick Vieira added: “We deserved the point. Really challenging against a really good side. We found it difficult to close them down but we managed to stay in the game.
"In the last 15 minutes we put pressure on them. Michael scored that free-kick. It was tough, we worked hard and we got rewarded.”
