The Sun (Malaysia)

Dalot admits United players must accept responsibi­lity

- BY ED ELLIOT

admits Manchester United’s players cannot shirk responsibi­lity for their shortcomin­gs after an underwhelm­ing second season under Erik ten Hag continued with Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Bournemout­h.

United twice trailed at the Vitality Stadium and were fortunate to escape with a point following a poor first half in which the impressive hosts wasted a series of chances.

While Bruno Fernandes’ double prevented defeat in Dorset, Ten Hag’s seventh-placed side face an uphill task to secure European qualificat­ion and also avoid the club’s worst Premier League finish.

Defender Dalot believes battling back on the south coast was an encouragin­g sign but concedes the team have significan­t room for improvemen­t going into their final six top-flight fixtures.

“The big positive is we fought always for the result,” the Portuguese told United’s website.

“That hunger of trying to fight until the end is something we have been showing this season.

“It’s been a positive thing, in my opinion, although we have a lot of things we should improve, as a team, as individual­s.

“There are some things we obviously need to take responsibi­lity (for), we cannot hide from it.

“The standards are always high at this club so we have to be really, really accountabl­e for these types of mistakes that we are making as a team that we cannot (make) if we want to fight for the big trophies.”

The Red Devils have a Wembley FA Cup semifinal against Championsh­ip club Coventry before returning to top-flight action at home to bottom side Sheffield United on April 24.

“We are already focusing on a big opportunit­y for us to be again in the FA Cup final and it’s a massive competitio­n we want to win,” said Dalot.

“We know the feeling of being there, now we want the feeling of being there again and winning it.” – The Independen­t

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