Erik ten Hag has sent a clear-cut message to Manchester United fans after the Red Devils’ 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday evening.
Michael Olise opened the scoring for Crystal Palace in the first half before Jean-Philippe Mateta doubled his side’s lead before the break at Selhurst Park.
Tyrick Mitchell added Palace’s third after the break before Michael Olise, who has been heavily linked with Manchester United, completed his brace in the 66th minute.
Erik ten Hag’s men underwhelmed with their performance and United produced a lacklustre display while on the back foot from Palace in the Premier League clash.
United languish in eighth place in the Premier League table and are level on points with seventh-place Chelsea and two points behind sixth-place Newcastle.
The Red Devils have only three league matches remaining, with a showdown in the FA Cup final against Manchester City being their final fixture this season.
United’s poor run of form in recent weeks ensured that Ten Hag’s side were out of the race for top four and will be without Champions League football for next season.
However, the Premier League club faced a further setback in securing any kind of European football after their 4-0 thumping defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
Ten Hag’s message to Man Utd fans
Erik ten Hag showed very little desire of sticking around on the pitch after the full-time whistle was blown at Selhurst Park.
The United manager shook hands with the officials and some of the Crystal Palace staff before he marched down the tunnel after the Red Devils’ defeat.
However, players from the United first-team squad went over to the Red Devils supporters in the away end and received a spine-tinging reception from them.
Ten Hag, whose long-term future at Old Trafford has been shrouded in mystery, didn’t send the best message by not heading over to the fans after the match.
However, the former Ajax boss made sure to address the support that United received from the fans amid a ‘very disappointing’ performance against Palace.
“It is clear and it is obvious, this is underperforming,” Ten Hag said after the match, as per Manchester United’s official website.
“We didn’t act how we want to do it and it’s by far not good enough. We are very disappointed, but the fans were always behind us and we [will] keep fighting, like the fans did.
“I was really grateful [to the fans]. They back us. They see also we have our problems. You have to stick together. You have to take responsibility. The fans gave us such huge and tremendous support.”
Ten Hag on Man Utd performance vs Palace
Ten Hag insisted that he could not defend United’s woeful performance at Selhurst Park and admitted that the Red Devils suffered a “deserved defeat” on the night.
“As Manchester United, we should perform better,” he said.
“The players who were available should do better. It’s a deserved defeat. The performance wasn’t what we expected.
“There are always reasons [why we are not good enough]. Everyone can see our backline, there we have huge problems but, at the end of the day, we have to deal with it. We should have done better than we did.”