Manchester United caretaker boss Ralf Rangnick says they created enough chances to win Sunday's final day defeat at Crystal Palace.

After a tight first half-hour, the Reds fell behind when former United winger Wilfried Zaha cut inside and fired into the bottom corner. Rangnick's side pushed for a leveller in the second half, but Palace's defence stood firm, and Patrick Vieira's side saw out the win.

Rangnick said, "We tried, we had big opportunities in the first half to score ourselves, but we didn't. Especially in the first half, we had too many unforced errors, bad giveaways, and that was exactly the way that we conceded the goal. In fact, it was our assist. The goalscorer was Zaha but the ones who gave the assist was ourselves. The way that we defended that shot was also not the way that you have to defend in this league.

"We had a few opportunities in the second half, but it was not clinical enough, that's why, in the end, we conceded another defeat away from home.

“We knew [what work lies ahead] before that game. We wouldn't have needed that fixture today to know that, but I'm optimistic, I'm positive. With the new manager, and Erik [ten Hag] is a top manager, together with our board, with our scouting department we can make sure that we get the necessary reinforcements, the players that help to raise the level of quality again. And then, hopefully, bring Manchester United back into the top four."

Of his tenure, the German added: “If we compare the two games against Palace, my first home game, to now, this was completely different. In that game, we chased them, we didn't give them any time or space, and today it was almost the other way round, they were trying to press us. We intended to play like that, that was the game-plan, to put them under pressure in their half, but we didn't do it with enough aggressiveness or energy."