Erik ten Hag called for focus on the "bigger picture" following Manchester United's 2-1 Premier League defeat to Fuham.
Alex Iwobi struck minutes after Harry Maguire looked to have recused a point for the hosts following Calvin Bassey's opener to condemn the Red Devils to their tenth League defeat of the season.
It was a blow to their hopes of catching Tottenham and Aston Villa in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League but Ten Hag called for perspective.
The Dutchman said: "After these two months I can't go with that approach. We have gone lately very good but now we have some setbacks.
"Today we could have won this game. We should have won this game as the team showed great character.
"We had two slow starts in both halves, definitely. It was a big loss to lose Casemiro (to injury), we lost some stability in the team and conceded a goal that is very avoidable, but then fought back in the game.
"I have to credit the team - they showed great character. We went for the win but by the end we let them slip away.
"But after one defeat you have to see the bigger picture and the bigger picture looks very good.
"We have to catch up in certain positions and get the injuries back, then we will be more in balance and also strengthen the squad in the transfer windows.
"You see there are many good players coming up and real high potential players, so definitely we are going in the right direction. When we have the players available, we have a very good team."
