ERIK TEN HAG told fans “you need to see the bigger picture” after Manchester United’s defeat to Fulham.

And Harry Maguire admitted United were “naive” in the crazy final minutes of their shock 2-1 home defeat despite putting in a dismal performance.

Erik ten Hag reckons Man Utd are on the right path despite losing to FulhamCredit: Getty

United looked to have rescued a point with an 89th minute Harry Maguire equaliser.

But Fulham emerged triumphant as Alex Iwobi bagged a winner in the 97th minute.

The result means United remain sixth in the table — eight points off Aston Villa and the fourth Champions League spot.

The Old Trafford giants have now lost 10 games in the Premier League this season — one more than their whole total last term.

But Ten Hag is confident things are moving in the right direction.

He defiantly said: “We have seen lately we’ve done very good but had setbacks.

“We should have won this game because the team showed great character, we had slow starts in both halves.

“We lost some stability with Casemiro going off, we fought ourselves back, then we went for the win and by the end we let them slip away.

“We could have won this game, we should have won this game. We have to recover from this setback, look forward and do better.

“After one defeat, you have to see the bigger picture and it looks very good.

“We have to catch up in certain positions, cut the injuries back, we will have more balance.

“Also strengthen the squad in the windows, you see there are many good players, real high potential players, so they will be getting better and better.

“We are definitely going in the right direction, when we have the squad available we have a very good team.”

Maguire admitted “naive” Manchester United paid the price for being too attacking in the final minutes of the game.

He said: “Overall on the balance of play we didn’t do enough in the first 60 minutes or so. We started the game not great.

“The first half was pretty even, but when you’re not playing at your best you have to do the basics right.

“To be a goal behind, I thought our reaction was brilliant especially in the last 30 minutes and when we equalised probably only one team was going to win it.

“We were probably naive in the end by throwing too many bodies forward and getting done on the counter attack.”

Sixth placed United are now eight points adrift of fourth placed Aston Villa in the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.