Ralf Rangnick has questioned Manchester United's forwards after his team suffered a 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
The Red Devils failed to get the better of Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford on a difficult afternoon in Liverpool. Cristiano Ronaldo came the closest to scoring with a last-minute effort, yet that was as good as it got for Rangnick's battling side.
The result leaves United seventh in the Premier League, three points behind Tottenham in fourth having played a game more. Arsenal in fifth and West Ham in sixth are also in contention. United's Champions League hopes are dwindling.
Everton remain in 17th but have opened up a four-point gap on Burnley in the final relegation spot thanks to Anthony Gordon's deflected first-half strike. Sean Dyche's team can move within a point of the Toffees by beating Norwich at Carrow Road on Sunday.
Speaking to BT Sport, Rangnick was clearly frustrated with his attackers. "If you don't score a single goal in 95 minutes we have to be disappointed," said the interim manager. "We made a good start to the game, had control over the game in the first 25 minutes.
"We should have created more chances out of that domination in the first 25 minutes. Then we conceded a deflected shot, a goal after a deflected shot, and after that lost a little bit of our composure and stride.
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"Second half we tried to add more creativity and verticality with our substitutions, but didn't always take the right decisions. In the end we couldn't score a single goal in 95 minutes."
When asked if Everton's home advantage made the difference, Rangnick added: "It was clear that happened, therefore it was important to score the first goal ourselves. This should have happened in first half-hour. If not, it doesn't make life any easier for us."
There was a rare outing for Juan Mata, who came on in the second half to make his first Premier League appearance of the season. On why he brought on the veteran, Rangnick said: "We had to do something because we needed a goal.
"I decided to bring more creativity with him in midfield and more verticality with Anthony Elanga, but they were defending with all their players in the last 35 minutes.
"We didn't find the right player at the right moment, not always enough players in the box when we played crosses into the box."
On United's hopes of Champions League hopes, Rangnick said: "We've spoken about that a few times, we're dependent on other results, but if we don't win our games we'll never have good results from other teams. The only thing we can do is stick together.
"Now we have Fred injured as well as Scott McTominay, so that's two midfield sixes injured, hopefully not for too long. That's all we can do, prepare for the Norwich game."
Rangnick was also quizzed on United's managerial situation. Erik ten Hag is expected to replace the German this summer and is currently putting together his backroom staff, which won't include former United strikers Robin van Persie and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
"I don't think this should be an excuse," added Rangnick. "We're Man Utd, we have a lot of international players, this cannot be an alibi or distraction. There will be a new manager next season, whether it is announced now, in 14 days, 20 days, this should have no effect on a game like today."
