Erik ten Hag accused his Manchester United players of allowing their level to drop after letting slip a one-goal lead to draw their Europa League opener against FC Twente on Wednesday.
Christian Eriksen put United ahead with a powerful first-half strike on a soaking wet night at Old Trafford before Sam Lammers equalised for Twente on 68 minutes after the Denmark international was caught in possession.
"We kept them alive, we were 1-0 up, controlling the game. You have to be consistent and keep going in the second half, we dropped the level and gave the goal away," Ten Hag said. "We didn't finish it off, we had to go for the second goal and so [FC Twente] stay alive and we get punished with a mistake from ourselves. We are very frustrated."
Ten Hag selected a strong side to take on Twente, the club where the Dutchman came through the youth ranks and had three spells as a player before moving into coaching with the Eredivisie side.
Marcus Rashford returned to the line-up after coming off the bench in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace, with Harry Maguire replacing Matthijs de Ligt in defence and Manuel Ugarte taking the place of Kobbie Mainoo.
United had an early let-off when Lammers dragged narrowly wide after slack play by Diogo Dalot, before Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall pulled off a brilliant save to stop Mees Hilgers from turning into his own net. He was well beaten though by Eriksen's thunderbolt after the ball broke to the midfielder inside the Twente area.
Andre Onana turned Sem Steijn's low free kick around the post near the hour, but Twente drew level when former Rangers forward Lammers dispossessed Eriksen after Bart van Rooij's marauding run into the United half, galloping clear to fire home.
"The goal, it’s [a] team [mistake], a player of Twente can dribble through almost the whole pitch, or half the pitch, without stopping," Ten Hag said. "That is not acceptable, we can't give a goal away like this. We have seen, again, you have to keep going for the whole game; once you are 1-0 up you have to keep going and go for the second [goal].”
Unnerstall tipped Joshua Zirkzee's stinging effort over the crossbar and Bruno Fernandes went close, with Unnerstall producing a magnificent reflex save in stoppage time to keep out a Maguire header deflected by Gijs Besselink.
United ultimately had to settle for an underwhelming point to start the new-look, 36-team league phase that mirrors the format of the revamped Uefa Champions League.
The draw continues an underwhelming start to the season for Ten Hag and his team. United have won just three of their first eight games – fewer than in either of the manager's two previous seasons at this stage of the campaign. United sit 11th in the Premier League table after five matches.
"It’s the first game [of the Europa League], it’s very important you get a win," the United manager said. "We have to build and tomorrow we have to keep going. Tonight was not good enough; we should have won."
Goalscorer Eriksen was also critical of United for not showing enough intensity to match Twente, telling TNT Sports: "We wanted more in the end, far from good enough. They looked like they wanted it more – that can't be right. I think everyone is looking at themselves, everyone is a professional footballer, they know what to do, what can't happen. We don't lose but it feels like a loss."
