Are you coming away from that wondering how you have lost the game?
I think the last few games against United, we have done the same. It was like it at the London Stadium last year as well. It was a goal here in the last minute or something as well. Look, we did a good job, we played well, put them under a lot of pressure, more in the second half than we did in the first half. I thought the players put in a good performance but we’re lacking just the final ingredient which could make the difference at the moment.
How important were those late saves from David de Gea?
David de Gea’s two saves were fantastic, they really were, but he’s been a great goalkeeper for Manchester United. You don’t be Manchester United’s number one for that length of time if you’re not a fantastic goalkeeper. He made two brilliant saves today for them and probably saved them from that point of view but it’s disappointing for us that we didn’t score because we put them under enough pressure. Even Jarrod [Bowen]’s at the end – he gets a good connection and I think it hits Harry Maguire’s calf and stops it going in. It’s those little bits I’m talking about – we’re just missing that little bit to get the ball in the net. It’s been the same in quite a few of the away games. We played very well at Anfield, missed a penalty that night, missed a couple of other opportunities and today was a bit the same.
Is it damaging that you have not got that statement win yet against one of the bigger sides this season?
I don’t think it’s damaging. We said last year that we were trying to challenge them, we finished seventh, finished a point behind United. All the games so far, we played Chelsea away, played Man United away, Liverpool away and we’ve not got the results but I think you’d be wrong if you said we’ve not given them right good games and run them close. We have tried to challenge them, we’ve just got on the wrong side of it. Hopefully in the second fixtures, we’ve got to play each other again, we can turn that around.
Is there perhaps and issue with belief in these games?
Maybe there’s a bit of that but I actually thought we started the game well and then we had a period where we turned the ball over too easy. It didn’t lead directly to the goal but it was in that period where United had a bit more dominance.
Should the flag have gone up earlier in the build-up to Lukasz Fabianski getting injured?
I don’t know if that was it, but I just know that he’s got a sore knee. He’s hurt his knee and we knew we weren’t going to take the chance at half-time.
Is that a serious looking one?
I don’t know, they just told me that his knee sort of went back and I think the footage shows it as far as I know. I think it was just a wee bit of a jar of the knee.
Is there a frustration looking back after recent near misses this season, against Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool?
It’s strange that people ask me if I think we should be beating these teams. It’s changed, it’s amazing isn’t it? I came at the point where we were relegation fodder and now you’re expecting us to win at Old Trafford. It just shows you. It’s great, the questions, thank you. I am really taking that as a compliment to be honest.
