Luke Shaw shouldered blame after his late handball condemned Manchester United to defeat at Brighton — but also admitted frustrations at his attacking team-mates.
Alexis Mac Allister scored a 99th-minute penalty after a VAR intervention as Roberto De Zerbi’s side earned a 1-0 win at the Amex Stadium to move up to sixth as United missed the chance to go third.
Shaw accepted responsibility for an action he could not “explain,” but he also rued the chances United failed to convert.
“It hurts a lot,” Shaw told Sky Sports. “Last minute, last action really. I got a nudge but of course the hand shouldn’t be there. I own up to it, take it on the chin. It cost us the game.
“I can’t explain why my hand’s up there. Maybe the nudge helps with my arm going up there, but it shouldn’t be there. But even before the corner, the free-kick that was given away was never a foul. I’m not looking for excuses but there’s no way that should have been given before the corner. But hands up, silly mistake.”
Shaw added: “The problem is we don’t score. In the first half, we have three or four chances that we should be scoring. On the other side, it comes down to my mistake at the end, but I think with the chances that we had we should be scoring these goals and the game is completely different if we score early on with the chances that we make.
“We have to kick ourselves. We were comfortable but now you can say it is a real chase, teams around us picking up points. But it is still in our hands.”
Manager Erik ten Hag bemoaned the “annoying” last-gasp loss and also the free-kick awarded by Andre Marriner in the build-up to the penalty, with the referee eventually going to the pitch-side monitor.
“The annoying thing is that the free-kick before (the corner) is never a free-kick and I have seen really bad tackles today, sometimes without whistles as well,” Ten Hag said.
“Every attack you make, they kick you and then from a fair block it’s a free-kick and it’s a corner and then it’s a disappointing handball in the dying seconds and you can’t react any more.
“It’s not about me to give a judgement about the ref. We lost this game, we make a mistake in the end and we didn’t take our chances but of course there are some disappointments.”
Manchester United remain fourth in the table — eight points ahead of Brighton, who have played one game fewer, and four points ahead of Liverpool, who have played a game more.
