United exited the Emirates FA Cup at the Second-Round stage at the hands of Blackpool.
Mark Hughes spoke to CUTV to give his verdict on the defeat.
Here's everything we learnt:
1. A disappointing evening
“Result-wise, it wasn’t what we were looking for, but I thought we had good moments in the game.
“Unfortunately, when we were showing a little bit of momentum in our play, and we were in the ascendancy, they’d go up the other end and score too easily on occasion.”
2. Need to defend as a collective
“We needed to defend better collectively because there were a couple of times when we didn’t really defend at all, and it escalated, and all of a sudden they were inside our box trying to get shots off.”
3. Games are decided on key moments
“I thought we created a number of chances, but as always in football matches, there are key moments and defining moments at that.
“We probably had a couple [of chances] when we had an opportunity to get back nearer to them. Certainly, Cricky’s [Chris Conn-Clarke] opportunity on the edge of the six-yard box. Their keeper made a great save and then in the second half when we [had] scored one [goal, and it looked like we were really in the ascendancy, David Ajiboye had a great effort saved once again. [They were] two outstanding saves by the keeper.
“We just needed those [chances] to go in and [then] they [Blackpool] collected the ball after that chance [David Ajiboye’s] and went up the other end and scored another goal.
“The game is taken away from us again, [but] overall I thought we had a go.”
4. Feeney’s influence was lost in his absence
“I think we probably lost the influence of Morgan [Feeney], just to keep us organised at the back.
“[It was] difficult for Jack [Ellis] to come in, but I thought he did well enough. That disruption, I think just lost us a little bit of our edge in terms of defensive work.”
5. Full focus turns to promotion back to the Football League
“We came up against a team that needed to win this game. We went strong [with team selection] and that was in respect of our potential.
“We can concentrate now on what was always the most important thing and that’s to get out of the National League.”
6. Blackpool had a clinical edge
“When you go up against higher league teams, more often than not, if they get a chance, they are able to dispatch them, and that’s why they play at a higher level because they are consistent in those moments and they do the right things.”
7. Lack of robustness in defensive duels
“I enjoyed our performance up to a point, but defensively in one versus one situations more often than not we need to come out with the ball, [and] on too many occasions that wasn’t the case.
“We just need to be a little more robust [and] a little more resilient and make sure that we come out with the ball.”
8. Delighted for debutant Atkinson
“We were able to get Hayden Atkinson on the pitch. He’s a young man with a lot of potential, and he came on and conducted himself really well.”
9. Selection dilemmas ahead of the Woking game
“We have got to see how Morgan [Feeney] is. Obviously, Bevis [Mugabi] is not too far away as well. He wasn’t ready today, but he’ll be closer to being able to be selected [on Wednesday]. We’ll see how we are on Wednesday [and] we’ll get today’s game out of our system.”
10. Ownness on the squad to go on another unbeaten run
“It’s up to us now to go on the run that we’ve been on prior to this game. We are more than capable of doing that.”
11. Great learning experience for the team
“We talked at length about what we needed to do, when we needed to press and when we needed to drop off. I thought that worked really well, but it was just those moments when we needed to do the right things, get a little bit closer, come out with the ball, stop any attacks and momentum.
“On occasion, we were guilty of allowing that [momentum building] to happen. It was a good learning experience for a lot of people.
“Attacking-wise, I thought some of our players were really good, but on the day, they took their chances better than we did.”
12. Importance of sharing minutes across the squad
“Georgie [Kelly] was a little bit sore after the last game and I’ve never played him Saturday [then] Tuesday [or] Sunday [and then] Wednesday. So I was always going to try and protect him a little bit.
“All in all, although we’ve been beaten today, I thought a lot of players did their claims no end of good.”
13. Outstanding Armstrong
“I thought Luke [Armstrong] was outstanding tonight, as always, because of everything that he can do to lead the line.
“It was a great finish [his goal]. If we could’ve got that second goal, I think it would have been a lot more interesting from our point of view.”
14. Opportunities in front of goal needed to be crafted
“It seemed like it was a little bit too easy for them [Blackpool] to take chances and score, whereas we had to really work the positions well to get good opportunities. Overall, I thought we did well enough.”
15. The tie slipped away from United
“We aren’t too down after that. Like I said, it was a long shot [going through], [but] we said we wanted to give it a go.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the tie, unfortunately and that’s what we were coming here to do. We’ve got to be able to stay in the game and wait for those defining moments. When those defining moments came, unfortunately, the game slipped away.”
16. Raring for a response against Woking
“We’ll be ready on Wednesday, and we are looking forward to it already.”
17. Unbelievable support irrespective of the result
“[It was] great support. They out-sung Blackpool fans from start to finish, irrespective of the scoreline. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to give them too much to cheer, but we got a goal for them, and I think they enjoyed that.”