Erik ten Hag responds to 'unnecessary' Manchester United defeat to Nottingham Forest - 'Not good enough'

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said his side were "not good enough" as they lost 2-1 to Nottingham Forest.

United ended the day in seventh but if Newcastle United and Brighton win their games in hand on Ten Hag’s men then they could slip down to ninth place in the Premier League table.

Ten Hag had doubtless been hoping to build on an encouraging, late 3-2 win against Aston Villa on Boxing Day, but instead he was facing another defeat.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "The result is clear. It's disappointing. Losing 1-0 you get a comeback and we were good, but in a counter moment we gave a goal away.

"The loss was unnecessary. We lost it in the first half. We weren't energised enough or invested enough.

"I thought against Villa we played well in the first half, we conceded from set plays. We should invest more in the first half.

"In the second, we were better. In the first half, we should have created some moments and we didn't. We know these results are below our standards."

He continued: "First half performance was okay. We invested to do less in the final third. I think we should have created more.

"The second half we had moments when we conceded goals. Then we come back in the game and I think the game was ours and we went for 2-1 and then we conceded. We had our moments but it was not good enough to win here.

"We know that. We have to make our performances consistent and have to do better. A game is 90 minutes and we have to invest from the first minute on."

Ten Hag had said this week that he was yet to meet new co-owner, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

The Nice and Ineos owner is set to take charge of footballing operations as part of his deal with the Glazer family, who own the vast majority of the rest of the club's shares.

There has been speculation that Ratcliffe will have a greater say on transfer strategy at the club, but the Dutch manager is focusing on the players already in his squad who will return from injury.

"We are hopeful that many players will be back in the new year and they will strengthen the team and the squad," he said.

United have been without Luke Shaw for almost all of the season until his recent return, and Jadon Sancho has been banished from first-team action. Ten Hag thinks his squad is not deep enough to deal with such issues.

He added: "We know the reasons why it is not working. No team can deal with so many issues and injuries we have. We should still have done better and we have depth in the squad. When you have so many injuries, the depth is not enough."

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