(Manchester United News)
Ander Herrera believes Manchester United played well and deserved all three points against Newcastle, but says he felt for supporters who had to wait until the 89th minute for Ashley Young to confirm victory with a late goal.
The Reds created chances and openings but couldn’t convert them, with Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul in inspired form to keep out chances from Marouane Fellaini, Wayne Rooney and Young.
But Herrera told MUTV: "I think we deserved to win. We deserved to score before and we were a little bit disappointed at half-time because we should have been winning.
“We created chances, we kept the ball, and we didn't give a lot of chances away - I think only one in the first half, in the last minute. But now we are very happy. When you win in the last minute you are very happy. But I think we have to improve, we have to score earlier, because our fans are suffering too much!”
The importance of Young’s late intervention, inspired by Rooney’s persistence in forcing an error from Krul, was highlighted by the fact that the teams around United jostling for a position in the top four – Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham – all won their Wednesday fixtures.
“It felt much more important after the game than before,” added Herrera. “When I was looking at the results of our rivals, I thought it was a very, very important victory because Arsenal won, Liverpool won, Tottenham won, Southampton won.
“You know the battle for the top four is going to be very hard, but I think we are in the right way, because we are winning the games through the ball [possession] and creating more chances than our opponent.”
