Erik ten Hag has likened Manchester United’s predicament to like “swimming with your hands behind your back”.
United lost their 14th Premier League game of the season in what was their first league loss to Arsenal at Old Trafford with a crowd present since September 2006.
Arsenal’s victory inflicted a 19th defeat overall for United this term and they languish in eighth in the league table with a goal difference of -4.
Leandro Trossard’s tap-in was the only goal of the game as Casemiro, in his fifth game running at centre half, trundled out of defence so slowly that Kai Havertz was played onside to assist the Belgian.
“Any manager can do better but also I am two years here and I have one time had a full group of players,” Ten Hag repeated. “You can’t progress a team in certain key areas with so many injuries. It’s like swimming with your hands on your back and you have to keep your head above the water level, that is what we try to do.
“We are still in a cup final. This is good. But if you want to progress a team you need fit players and you see our opponent today, they had only one not 100% match-fit player and we had so many.
“I don’t like reactions but you have to always be there, you have to always be spot on when you are Man United. But if it happens, you need a reaction and the players gave the reaction.”
Ten Hag’s attempt to portray United in a positive light is unlikely to wash with supporters despite more brilliant backing at Old Trafford. United players were applauded at full-time at Crystal Palace, where they were thumped 4-0 on Monday night, and there was never any danger of mutiny on their own patch against Arsenal.
“It shouldn’t be like this, you are absolutely right,” Ten Hag said of a possibly positive slant on another reverse. “But then I return with all the problems we have.
“When you analyse the performance then you have to see that we were competitive but that is not the way we want, of course. We have to win, United have to win every game but at this moment as a club we are not in this position and definitely not this team with all the injuries we have.”
United could still qualify for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup but their midweek fixture at home to Newcastle and Chelsea’s trip to Brighton on the same evening could confirm an eighth-place finish. The last time United finished outside the top seven was in 1990 when they ended the campaign in 13th.
“It’s very damaging,” Ten Hag said of the prospect of no European football next term. “But I just answered the question: that is the situation we are in but still we can still get there.
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