Harry Maguire admitted 'naive' Manchester United paid the value for being too attacking within the closing minutes of their shock 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Saturday.
Erik ten Hag's aspect suffered a significant blow to their hopes of a top-four end within the Premier League when Alex Iwobi grabbed Fulham's winner seven minutes into stoppage time.
United defender Maguire appeared to have rescued some extent when his close-range end within the 89th minute canceled out Calvin Bassey's Sixty fifth-minute opener.
However United have been caught throwing gamers ahead in the hunt for all three factors when Iwobi completed off a counter-attack to seal Fulham's first win at Previous Trafford since 2003.
“Total, we didn't do sufficient by way of recreation stability within the first 60 minutes. We didn't begin the sport nice,” Maguire mentioned.
“The primary half was fairly even, however in the event you don't play at your finest you need to do the fundamentals nicely.
“To be down by a purpose, I assumed our response was sensible, particularly within the final half-hour and once we equalized, most likely just one staff would win.
“Ultimately we have been most likely naive by throwing too many our bodies ahead and counter-attacking.”
Sixth-placed United at the moment are eight factors behind fourth-placed Aston Villa within the race to qualify for subsequent season's Champions League.
United might haven’t any complaints after Fulham dominated with a efficiency that punctured the optimism round Previous Trafford following the affirmation of Jim Ratcliffe's buy of a 25 p.c stake within the membership this week.
British billionaire Ratcliffe, a boyhood United fan, has taken management of the membership's soccer operations from its unpopular homeowners, the Glazer household.
However United's tame efficiency underlined how a lot work they need to do to attain Ratcliffe's daring ambition of unseating Manchester Metropolis and Liverpool.
Maguire claimed United have been hampered by the absence of Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund, who was in good kind earlier than struggling an harm this week.
“We have been affected by the harm to Rasmus, who has been an vital point of interest for us. However it’s as much as us to search out the options and the areas the place we have to enhance,” Maguire mentioned.
“We will play on him, he retains it up, he will get the press going very well, not solely that, however Marcus (Rashford) performs very well on the left.
“It’s the story of our season. We’ve got been hit by accidents, similar to different groups, and we have to discover a answer shortly.”
