Ten Hag: We have to keep improving

The Reds suffered a setback in our first Premier League away game of the campaign, going down 2-1 at the Amex Stadium after Joao Pedro headed a 95th-minute winner. Amad had cancelled out former United striker Danny Welbeck's first-half opener and United had goals from Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee ruled out for offside. 

Ten Hag felt there were some positives to take from the match but described the goals the Reds conceded as "very avoidable" and insisted his team must learn from those situations. 

Read the manager's thoughts from his post-match interviews with MUTV and TNT Sports below...

IT COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT

“I'm disappointed because we should have taken at least a draw. We could have won as well but, in the end, you have no points and that is disappointing because it could have been very different.”

CONCEDED GOALS VERY AVOIDABLE

“It is disappointing, especially when over long parts in the game, you have control and we are controlling the game in possession and we are doing so well. We conceded two unnecessary goals, very avoidable. That is our feeling, we concede two soft goals where we should act better as a team. We have to talk, we have to be aligned in such moments what to do and everybody knows their job and, as a team, we protect our goal.”

SOME POSITIVES TO TAKE

“I think there were some very good parts in the game. We had a lot of control in possession, we created good chances, we showed resilience, we came back and then we scored what we thought was a winning goal - so [it was] bad luck that the ball was on the line just before the line. It’s touched by [Joshua] Zirkzee so that’s a pity, you have to take this, it’s a disappointment but I can take a lot of positives from the performance.”

FOOTBALL IS ABOUT DETAILS

“We have to learn, you can’t drop points so unnecessarily. If you protect the goal like we do, then you drop points. Football is about details. We have to do better in such occasions.”

SOME GOOD FIRST-HALF CHANCES

“Also, before half-time, we created our chances. The best chance before half-time was from Amad after the cross of Diogo [Dalot] and, after that, Mason Mount had a very good chance. I think we had, before half-time, three or four good opportunities and, from there, two very good chances where we should be winning at half-time.”

WE SHOULD SCORE MORE GOALS

“We needed to be more clinical in both boxes and how we concede the goals is very soft. It shouldn’t have happened, we should be better organised in such moments. Also on the other hand, on the other side, when you create the chances we did, we should score more goals - especially the one with the overload, where everyone thought it was a goal [the disallowed effort in the second half].”

WE NEED TO BE CONSISTENT

“We need to be consistent so that is a step backwards. If you can’t win, then take the draw. We have to keep improving, work hard and that’s our job to do. Also, we have to work on both sides of our box game to be more effective because football, at the end of the day, is about scoring goals.”