John McGinn: Aston Villa should have finished off Manchester United

Aston Villa captain John McGinn said his side should have held on to beat Manchester United rather than settle for a draw after surrendering a strong position at Old Trafford.

Manchester United fought back to claim a dramatic 4-4 draw in one of the most exciting Premier League matches of the season.

The match was played at Old Trafford in the 10th round of the competition, with United recovering to take a point after Villa had looked on course for victory.

McGinn told Sky Sports: “Clearly, we were in a very strong position to finish the game and win it. We have been in these situations here often enough to know that we have to defend until the 95th minute and beyond.”

Villa’s captain also admitted his team had failed to manage the opening period as well as they should have.

“We did not handle the first half in the way we needed to,” he said. “We have a very young team, and what happened today is an experience we can learn from.”

McGinn said Villa had become too relaxed before United scored their third goal, while he felt the defending for the fourth was particularly poor.

“To be honest, we felt very comfortable, and then the third goal came,” he added. “I have seen the fourth goal more than the third, and it was very naive from us.”

The Scotland international said Villa needed to improve collectively and use the result as a warning.

“We had to defend better as a team,” he said. “It is a really bad goal to concede. We are a team lacking experience at the moment. It is a tough lesson, and we have to learn from it quickly.”

McGinn was also critical of the way Villa allowed Manchester United another opportunity from a corner, although he was unsure whether there had been an infringement on the goalkeeper.

“When you play against any Premier League team, you have to stay focused for the team,” he said. “We gave them the chance to take the corner again, and we needed to be tighter defensively.

“I have not watched the incident back properly, so I do not know whether there was a foul on the goalkeeper or not, but it gave them the opportunity to equalise.”

The draw moved Manchester United to eight points from 10 matches, leaving them 18th and inside the relegation places.

Aston Villa, meanwhile, increased their total to 13 points and sit 10th in the table.