Reports are out claiming that Juan Mata has implored Manchester United to quickly learn from their disappointing defeat at Arsenal on Sunday.
The Red Devils were blown away in the opening 20 minutes at the Emirates Stadium as goals from Alexis Sanchez (2) and Mesut Ozil set the Gunners on their way to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
In his weekly blog, Spanish midfielder Mata urged his teammates to take plenty in from that disastrous beginning so they can avoid a repeat of such a performance as the Premier League season progresses.
“As you could see, everything went wrong in the first half,” wrote Mata.
“Arsenal started with more intensity, they scored very quickly and with no time for our reaction they scored the second goal. Not even 10 minutes have passed and things were already looking very bad.
“A start like this from us is unacceptable; if we want to fight for big things we must learn the lesson as soon as possible.
“The only thing I can say is that we shouldn’t play a game like this again. When we were starting to react and move the ball, Alexis scored the third one.
“It’s not easy to beat Arsenal at their stadium, but when you lose 3-0 after the first 20 minutes then it’s almost impossible. We were penalised by our horrible start.”
Third-placed United return to league action after the international break with a trip to seventh-placed Everton on October 17.