Erik ten Hag pinpoints mistake from Man Utd star that led to Crystal Palace win

Erik ten Hag lamented Manchester United’s defending in their defeat to Crystal Palace, insisting Sofyan Amrabat gave away a needless free kick for the winning goal.

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United suffered their fourth defeat in seven league games on Saturday afternoon, marking their worst ever start to a Premier League season.

The hosts found themselves a goal down after 25 minutes thanks to Joachim Andersen’s stunning strike.

Amrabat, starting his first league game and drafted in at left-back with all other options unavailable, bundled Jordan Ayew over to give away the free kick that resulted in the goal, with the Palace forward seemingly going nowhere over on the right.

‘First of all, the free kick, we need more control,’ ten Hag told Sky Sports.

‘It is not necessary to make a foul there. Then the ball is coming into the box and it is not good defending.’

United eased to a 3-0 win over Palace in the Carabao Cup midweek but toiled against Roy Hodgson’s side on Saturday.

Ten Hag was left particularly frustrated with his side’s performance in the final third, believing his side worked their way into good positions but failed to show any real cutting edge.

‘It’s quite simple. We conceded only three chances over the whole game – all three from set-plays. Then I think we got in good positions and then made poor decisions,’ he said.

‘We got into good positions and we had free players. We didn’t have an impact. The quality was just not good enough in that part of the game. The final part of the game we didn’t play our best game.

‘Of course it is frustrating. We were also many times close. You have to be sharp and clinical. It’s about decision making.

‘We can’t change this result anymore. You always learn from the game and learn to do better from the final part of the game.’

United have two more games at home this week with Galatasaray coming to Manchester on Tuesday followed by the visit of Brentford next weekend.

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