Call for calm as United slips up

MIDFIELDER Juan Mata says Manchester United needs to keep calm and kick on after another frustrating late slip-up threatened to throw its festive schedule off kilter.

Burnley arrive at Old Trafford on Boxing Day with Jose Mourinho’s men reeling from back-to-back disappointments, kicked off by Bristol City knocking the holder out of the League Cup on Wednesday.

That stoppage-time winner was compounded by another late goal as Harry Maguire snatched Leicester a 2-2 draw at the death on Saturday to leave United 13 points behind Premier League leader Manchester City.

There is no time to wallow as the games come thick and fast, with the Boxing Day visit of Burnley swiftly followed by another home match against Southampton and a trip to Everton on New Year’s Day.

“You have to keep going and especially in Christmas time,” Mata said.

“You play every two or three days and obviously now we feel frustrated and angry.”

Mourinho criticised his side’s “childish” display after what felt like a pre-Christmas defeat for United.

“We didn’t kill it — and we should have killed it,” Mata told MUTV. “It’s easy to say now.

“If we instead of drawing win at the end, we would have been saying that it was a fantastic game, that we came back and we did the most difficult thing which is to score twice after they went ahead.

“But that’s football.”