Van de Beek: We needed to speed the game up
Donny van de Beek was pleased to score his first Manchester United goal on Saturday, but admitted to huge disappointment after the team’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
The game was the visitors’ seventh match of 2020/21, including friendlies, and Roy Hodgson’s team appeared much the sharper side throughout.
But our new signing said the gulf between the teams surprised him, and stressed that the Reds could have done much more to change the course of the match.“My first day for the club and a day you want to win, it doesn't matter how you win, and I'm really disappointed that we lose 3-1 at home,” lamented the former Ajax midfielder. “It's really bad.
“Last week in training we did really well,” he continued. “We did really good, so my feeling was very positive, but yeah, today we played too slowly, we were too long with the ball, and I think against an opponent like Crystal Palace you need to speed up the game to create something. That was not good enough.”
Van de Beek: We played too slowly
Our new Dutchman was an immediate hit against Palace, but admitted our performance was way below par...
The Dutchman was introduced on 67 minutes, replacing Paul Pogba, and quickly made an impact: his calm finish reduced the score to 2-1 just 13 minutes later.
Donny felt there was a window of opportunity at that point, and could sense that Palace were apprehensive about a United comeback.
“Yeah [I felt there was hope], because after we got the goal, they were scared,” he explained. “But then after some minutes they made [the] 3-1, and it was not what we wanted.”
The 23-year-old didn't deny that it would have been nicer to net his first goal for the club in front of a packed Stretford End, but admitted he was only thinking about the team responding to the defeat.
“Yeah, to play for the fans in stadiums like this, it's more nice,” he confessed. “Still I scored, but we lose and it's just the most important thing that we have to win.
“Next week we need to step up and we need to win, for our feeling. We need to step up now.
“Yes, we lost, but it's always really nice to play for a club like this. I made my first game and I hope to help the team and next time that we win, for sure.”
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