Sunday 30 November 2014 09:23, UK
Hull manager Steve Bruce praised Manchester United’s performance in their 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford, but says his side made it too easy for the hosts.
Goals from Chris Smalling, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie sealed a comfortable victory for Louis van Gaal’s men, who sit fourth in the Premier League table.
The visitors found themselves out of contention at the break, and Bruce was disappointed with how his side failed to make life difficult for the hosts.
“It’s always difficult when you come (to Old Trafford), but the one thing you’ve got to do is play well,” he said.
“We can say Manchester United played really well on the day because they did, but we certainly contributed to that fact. We made awful mistakes all over the pitch, and in the first half in particular we found it very difficult.
“When you come here you’ve got to perform at a maximum to get something, and today we found ourselves up against a very good Manchester United team.”
The Tigers boss made a change 10 minutes before the break, hauling off Hatem Ben Arfa as the visitors struggled to cope with United’s attacking threat.
But Bruce refused to criticise the France international, insisting it was an overall tactical change as they tried to get back into the game.
“We had to change something,” he said. “The one thing I’ll never do is criticise any individual. What’s said in the dressing room will stay there, but it’s fair to see we had to do something to try and stop the slide if we possibly could.
“Hatem’s paid for that today when I’ve made an early substitution to try and make something happen.”
Hull have now lost four Premier League games in a row and have rapidly slid down the table, currently sitting 17th and only out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Bruce was not too disheartened by the result, though, and believes his side can still better their 16th-place finish last season.
“We always know it’s going to be difficult and that we’re going to have difficult parts of the season,” he added. "We had a really wonderful start last year which gave us the impetus to follow it through. We're (in) the second season in, we can’t forget that, and I believe we’ve got a far stronger squad that we had last year.
“In difficult moments, like in everything, you just have to stick with it, you have to batten down the hatches and get ready to come and perform again, because we’ve got another game in three, four days’ time and the Premier League is relentless.
“I’m still confident that we’ll finish better than we did last year.”
