Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said his players were “not ready” to start either half during their 2-2 draw with Leeds United.
Leeds scored 55 seconds after kick-off and again three minutes after half-time to go 2-0 up at Old Trafford.
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Second-half goals from Marcus Rashford and substitute Jadon Sancho earned United a point and while Ten Hag was pleased with the fight back, he admitted his team had paid the price for two slow starts.
“Definitely it was true that each half we are not ready,” said Ten Hag.
“I start my talk at half-time with ‘hey guys we are not ready, make sure you are ready’ and then we go out [and concede again] and that is the point. I am disappointed we lost all the battles in the first minutes of each half.
“You can say we won a point because when you are in a derby and come back from 2-0 down it is good. But on the other hand when you start a derby like we did it’s unacceptable. You have to be ready to fight and we weren’t ready for the battle.”
