Erik ten Hag felt his Manchester United side put in a good performance at the Etihad Stadium and were unlucky not to return to Old Trafford with at least a point after losing 3-1 to City in the Premier League on Saturday.

Marcus Rashford belted the Reds into an eighth-minute lead, firing past Ederson from 25 yards, but a Phil Foden double turned the tide in City’s favour, before Erling Haaland settled matters in injury time.

The Dutchman was pleased with how his side carried out his tactical instructions, feeling they were simply undone in a couple of ‘defining moments’, notably just after Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho could have been awarded fouls following last-ditch interventions from Kyle Walker and Ederson respectively.

“It’s about getting behind the defending line and with the speed from Garnacho and Rashford. And I think that went very well – we were already up after a couple of minutes,” said Ten Hag.

“Good breakthrough from Garnacho, Rashford was in the perfect scoring position and then, quickly after the goal from Rashford, we had our moments and more throughout all the game. I think also [in] defending, we closed the middle very good, we defended the box very good. So the performance from our side was very good.”

On if United played according to his plans, Ten Hag said: “It’s about getting behind the defending line and with the speed from Garnacho and Rashford. And I think that went very well – we were already up after a couple of minutes.

“Good breakthrough from Garnacho, Rashford was in the perfect scoring position and then, quickly after the goal from Rashford, we had our moments and more throughout all the game. I think also [in] defending, we closed the middle very good, we defended the box very good. So the performance from our side was very good.”