Matthijs de Ligt gives brutally honest Manchester United verdict after Tottenham defeat

Defender Matthijs de Ligt has said Manchester United's players must accept responsibility following their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

James Maddison's goal after just 13 minutes was enough to condemn United to a third defeat in their last four Premier League matches, leaving them 15th in the table.

Despite suffering a 12th league defeat of the season and being without a whole host of their senior players, United created several chances to equalise.

The chances came and went without being taken, with the best of them falling to Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee. And for De Ligt, United need to continue to search for a solution to their struggles.

"I think if you lose, a lot has to improve," De Ligt told MUTV. "At the moment, we are not where United belongs, we are not winning games. There are a lot of things to improve.

"If I knew the solution, I would have said it and we would win games. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that need to improve and I think first of all, we have to look to ourselves to be responsible and we have to stick together.

"If we are doing everything on our own, we are never going to get results."

United will travel to Everton next time out, making their last trip to Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime, and De Ligt has urged his teammates to stick together.

He continued: "We need to stick together and try and put our finger on what went wrong, what is the difference in this game, why we lose this game, and why we don't win.

"It's not enough for United; we are not winning enough, we are not scoring chances enough, conceding too many goals. I think there are a lot of things that should improve and hopefully it will be a bit better soon."