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Juan Mata was at a loss to explain the "sad way" in which Manchester United lost at Leicester City on Sunday. - Brewin: Man United show their ugly flaws
- United threw it all away, says Van Gaal All looked rosy in the United camp last week when they routed QPR 4-0 at Old Trafford -- in which Mata scored his eighth goal for the club. But the Spaniard dropped to the bench for the visit to Leicester, where United led 2-0 and 3-1 before going down 5-3. Writing in his blog, Mata admitted it was a tense journey home from the King Power Stadium. "I have waited a few hours before facing the white screen to try to express how I feel after the game in Leicester," Mata explained. "After a whole week waiting for the match I could not imagine a Sunday like this. It's really tough to score three goals away and come back home with no points. "On our way back to Manchester I was thinking about what had happened and felt so disappointed as all those that came with us to the stadium. "Honestly, I feel very sorry that the weekend ended up for our fans in such a sad way." Captain Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, says he and his teammates made too many "bitterly disappointing" mistakes. Rooney said: "We should have seen the game off, and we should have kept the ball better. We didn't do that, we made a few mistakes and it has cost us. Leicester played a lot of long balls and we struggled a little bit with those. "Overall, it wasn't good enough as a team. We played some good stuff at times and scored some great goals, but we made too many mistakes as a team and have to do better. "We gave away a sloppy goal straight after we got our second. That lifted the crowd, but we have to do better. It's bitterly disappointing that we didn't." Meanwhile, former United star Gary Neville claims they were "soft-centred" and "bullied" by Nigel Pearson's team. "Going forward they're a lot better than they have been in the last 12-18 months and that's a positive," Neville said on Sky Sports. "But in the first half, every ball that got played forward from distance a Leicester player won it, whether it was the first ball or the second ball. In the second half, a decision goes against them but make no mistake about it they're soft-centred. They're not tough enough. "I thought the midfield three for United and the back four got bullied. Credit to Leicester and [Jamie] Vardy and [Jose] Ulloa -- they really ran them ragged. It wasn't intricate play or world-class football, it was just hard work. "Grit, hard work, with a bit of quality mixed in with it and United couldn't deal with the physicality of that team." United, and manager Louis van Gaal, will have a chance to put things right with back-to-back home games against West Ham and Everton.
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