Town defender Leif Davis was left frustrated by the Blues’ lack of discipline during the second half of their 5-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.

After a competitive first half that saw United pounce on a mistake to draw level, home captain Bruno Fernandes ran the show after the break to complete a hat-trick and hand Gary O’Neil his first defeat as Town boss.

The Portuguese midfielder’s treble was added to by a Jacob Greaves own goal and another from Bryan Mbeumo to ensure the Red Devils came from behind to claim their first win of the campaign.

Davis rued some of the Blues’ decision-making after half-time, which saw three goals scored within 12 minutes of each other to firmly put the game out of reach.

“Very disappointed,” he said. “We were in good control of the game for 45 to 55 minutes. They got the second goal and that’s when we started to lack discipline. They carved open quite easily, we should have just stayed in shape a lot more.

“It’s a difficult day, everyone’s disappointed. It shouldn’t have been that scoreline. We’re better than that, we know we are. But it’s still early days and we’ve got a lot to work on.

“For 45 to 55 minutes of the game was good and we frustrated them a lot. A lot of overturns from them, we had chances going forward as well. It’s just the decision-making at the top end, when they got their chances they took them.

“That’s the difference. That’s the quality of the Prem and that’s the quality of some players. Bruno, you see his quality, he’s one of the best midfielders in the world.

“In those little moments, you can’t give away in the game or you get punished straight away. You’ve got to stay in the game for the full 90 minutes or things like that happen to you and the game runs away from you.

“It’s still early days, we showed what we could do for 55 minutes, for 90 minutes against Sunderland and 90 minutes against Leicester. We can score goals, we can be solid as a full team.

“It’s not just the defenders that have to defend, it’s everyone, it starts from the front. When we started to lack discipline, that’s when they gained their momentum and the game started to run away from us.

“You could feel the tension from them when we were 1-0 up. We had another chance and it was nearly 2-0. You could feel the tension. I think we had very good control of the game, but then the quality came out.

“Nacho [Marcelino Núñez] was unlucky with the slip. Everyone makes mistakes, the best people in the world make mistakes, but I thought Nacho was very good in midfield today. He was top class apart from that slip.

“But things like that happen in games, we can’t control that and it’s little small things you get punished for from the best in the world. You could see how good the quality was today.”

The left-back’s verdict echoed that of manager O’Neil, while Davis was also left confused as to the ruling that allowed United’s second goal to stand after a VAR check.

Harry Maguire appeared to make contact with his hand, but the technology did not decide to rule out the goal after the England defender’s strike deflected off Greaves for an own goal.

Davis said: “We were very frustrated with the second goal. I don’t know how it can not be handball if he’s handballed it and it goes in off one of our players. It’s still handball at the end of the day.

“If a defender in the box blocks the shot and it was going in, it’s a handball. It shouldn’t really be like that, but the rules are the rules. I don’t make the rules, the boys don’t make the rules.

“We’re still in the game at 2-1. We can’t feel disappointed and let that decision take over how we were for the rest of the game. That’s when we have to reset and go back to what we know we can do, be a horrible team to play against and break down, like we were for the first 55 minutes of the game.

“That’s when we started to lack that discipline. You’re jumping out, and you just need to stay in structure. It’s early days, with the new gaffer we’re learning every day.

“Going back to a back five, which is something that we’ve not really worked on at all. We do have that option to go there, but it will take time to learn from that. It’s a difficult one to take, it’s not nice to get five past you.

“It was good to get the two goals that we did, but we’d rather take the three points home. We’ve got to go back to the training ground on Tuesday and work our socks off to get things put right for Friday night.”

Town’s opening goal of the afternoon came courtesy of Davis, who struck a sweet half-volley to break the deadlock after Abdul Fatawu had burst beyond Luke Shaw down the right.

“It’s always good to get a goal or assist on the board,” he said. “It doesn’t matter for me personally, I’d rather go home with the three points.

“It’s a great achievement to score again, but it means nothing when you get beat 5-2. I would rather take three points home and had a good evening. We’ve got to wipe it off our shoulders now and fully focus on Friday night, and the boys will still be fully confident to do that.

“A lot of teams will come here and things like that will happen to them. We’re in good hands, it’s still early doors and we’re ready for the next.”

Despite defeat, Davis believes the Blues have shown improvements from their previous Premier League spell two years ago and lessons can be learned from their elite-level opposition.

The 25-year-old also says all focus now turns to the home clash with Liverpool at Portman Road on Friday.


He said: “The quality that we’ve got in the team and the qualities we’ve brought in, we should feel confident. Boys like Saša and Issa who have played in the Prem before. A lot of players haven’t, but you can see they’re adapting to it really well.

“It’s early doors, and we’ve still got a lot to work on out of possession and in possession. When we do regain the ball, we have to be that bit cleaner. Man United popped it a little bit when they did regain the ball, and sometimes you have to take control a bit more in the games.

“Especially away from home at Old Trafford, you can’t just hope for the best and hit long. For 45 to 55 minutes of the game, we did control the ball really well when we did have it and little details that we should clean up a little bit. The game ran away from us, but now it’s done and we’ve got to fully focus on Friday night.

“That’s the thing that we’ve learned from last time. The game is done now, we can’t go back and change that. Last time, we’d probably dwell on it a lot more than we should have.

“Friday night is going to be a hell of a game as well at Portman Road. We want to make it as hostile as we can, like we always do. The fans are incredible when we play there, it’s one of the best places to play football in England.

“For me personally, it’s the best atmosphere I’ve ever played in. You come to places like this with 80,000, then you go to 30,000 and it’s still louder at Portman Road. That’s what it means to the club and that’s what it means to the fans.

“We’ve got to brush off today, it’s a tough one to take, but we’ve got to get things right for Friday.”

Photo: TWTD