Erik ten Hag said he understood the supporters who booed Manchester United off after their 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace and admitted there was no excuse for the result.
United suffered a fifth defeat already this season and a second in as many league games at Old Trafford after Joachim Andersen scored for Roy Hodgson’s team.
And Ten Hag said: “I understand. When we played at home we play Crystal Palace, we have to win. With all respect, I know every game in is very difficult, you have to play your best and I understand fans expecting a win and we didn’t win. We lost.”
The United manager was reluctant to use mitigating factors to try and justify a disappointing result and their inconsistent start to the campaign.
He added: “I can give you reasons but you will explain it as an excuse and there are no excuse. We need to win. We have to be more consistent. The demand is we get a row of wins and we have to do better than we do now.”
United were on a long unbeaten home run until Brighton won at Old Trafford two weeks ago and Ten Hag urged his team to project the image that Old Trafford is a fortress.
He said: “We have to do better. That is definitely the case, and we have to show it in our body language that Old Trafford is a fortress and you can’t get anything here and the only thing you can go away with is a loss.”
Ten Hag felt United’s decision-making in the final third was poor and a reason why they did not score.
He explained: “We were often in the final part but we didn’t make the right decisions on and off the ball but we have to be more clinical and more determined. I think we created many occasions in front of the goal and we have to net and we didn’t do and can only blame ourselves.”
