Erik ten Hag laments ‘unacceptable’ starts and ‘big mistakes’ in Leeds draw as Manchester United must forget Premier League title dream

Manchester United have been told to forget about being Premier League champions, while Erik ten Hag has slammed his side’s ‘unacceptable’ start to Leeds.

The game at Old Trafford ended 2-2 after the home side had to fight back after two goals down after being taken cold by the visitors at the start of each half.

Wilfried Gnonto scored after 55 seconds to stun the home crowd, and less than three minutes after the half-time break they doubled their lead when Raphael Varane deflected in a Crysencio Summerville pass.

Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho later both found the net to take a point from the match, but that was no comfort to manager Ten Hag.

“Very poor [starts to each half] and it is unacceptable to start any game,” he told talkSPORT afterwards.

“Especially a derby like we did, you’re down and you have to fight back.

“We made big mistakes and it’s related to the attitude, we’re not ready to go into duels, we lose duels, the formation was also bad when we lost the ball, we didn’t followed our principles and we were quickly down.

“We had a warning in the first half and in the second half it was the same.”

When asked if they had missed suspended midfielder Casemiro, the Dutchman added: “We have a great team and no matter who comes in, we have to win this game with 11 or 15 players available and on the pitch. .”

talkSPORT commentator Micky Gray was also unimpressed with the hosts, who were outplayed in Leeds’ first game since manager Jesse Marsch was sacked.

“It’s as bad as I’ve seen them play all season, it really is,” he said.

“Forget Manchester United chasing a Premier League title because away from their strongest XI they have vulnerabilities, they still have players at this football club who really shouldn’t be here.

“You saw it tonight, there are younger players that you think you have to give the benefit of the doubt sometimes, but you always want to see more.

“It just wasn’t a performance tonight, they looked really shaky in the first hour of the game, yes they clawed their way back and got something out of it but Manchester City and Arsenal will advance the rest of the season .”

Had United won, they would be level with rivals Manchester City, but remain two points behind them in third place.