Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has conceded that his Manchester United side did not control the game despite dominating Crystal Palace in their 2-1 loss at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The home side dominated possession in the first half and had most of the play and the ball. But other than a Daniel James opportunity, they did not create enough chances to put the Crystal Palace defence under the cosh.  

 



The Eagles scored from their first attack on the half-hour mark when Jeffrey Schlupp won a header against Victor Lindelof and sent Jordan Ayew through on goal, who calmly finished to give a shock lead to the away side.

Crystal Palace could have scored another as a result of a penalty melee, but Wilfried Zaha’s shot was saved by David de Gea.
 


Manchester United again looked on the front foot in the second half and kept the Crystal Palace defence under pressure by pinning them in their 18-yard box.
 



But the chances were few and far between and Marcus Rashford missed a golden opportunity to level the score when he missed from the penalty spot and hit the inside of the woodwork.

Manchester United kept pushing hard but the goal remained elusive as Crystal Palace defended doggedly in the final quarter of the game.
 

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However, James scored a brilliant goal in the 89th minute to level the score and bring the stadium alive in the hope of late winner.

But it came at the other end when Crystal Palace scampered forward in stoppage time for Patrick van Aanholt to score a 93rd winner.

Solskjaer bemoaned the fact that his side were not clinical enough in front of goal and did not manage to control the game despite dominating the ball for large parts of the fixture against Palace.

He also slammed the way they completely lost control of the game in the final five minutes after managing to drag themselves back into it through James’ goal.

The Norwegian told the BBC’s Match of the Day: "They scored two and we scored only one.

“We just were not clinical enough in front of goal and they scored two very easy goals. I thought we got our act together second half, we just couldn’t hit the target.

“We have dominated the game but we have not controlled it.

"We should have dealt with the last five minutes better. We defended poorly at times today and it cost us.

“Sometimes you do not find that end product and that happened today. We did not test their 'keeper enough. It cost us dearly today."
 


Manchester United have missed penalties in back-to-back games, but Solskjaer feels that is part and parcel of the game.

He is backing his players to convert from the spot the next time they get an opportunity.

"Two games, two missed penalties. It’s part and parcel of it. Sometimes it happens.

“I have missed a few myself. If we score them it’s a different story. If we keep putting ourselves in those positions we will get more penalties and we will score. It is just one of those things.

“We trust them to score again"

The result represents Crystal Palace’s first league win at Old Trafford in 30 years.