Erik ten Hag admitted Manchester United have dropped too many recent points in the race for a Champions League place, when speaking after his side’s 2-2 away draw with Bournemouth.

Had the Reds found a third goal, to improve on the results against Brentford (1-1), Chelsea (3-4) and then Liverpool (2-2), it would have barely been deserved in the Dutchman’s view. He was disappointed with the first-half display when Bournemouth scored twice from their 12 shots, after frequently finding space in United’s half – particularly on our defensive right.

“We have a team that is resilient and has character. We want to win. And twice we fought back from losing positions, but we come into losing positions and that’s unnecessary. Unnecessary. We lost the ball three times in the areas where you should not lose it,” said Ten Hag.

“We were not always well-organised, especially over the right side. There came some gaps and the opposition could benefit from it. And we should have done this better.”

He added: “The second half was better. We took more responsibility and then we closed the side. In the second half there were two things [I told them to do]: stay in the formation, in position, don’t get erratic, because we will create a moment. And the second was to do your job in the defending part.”