Jose Mourinho made a veiled reference to Manchester United's frustrating summer transfer window following their frustrating Champions League stalemate against Valencia.
Mourinho faced serious pressure heading into Tuesday night's European match at Old Trafford, with a poor run of results and form leading to question marks over his job security.
United were winless for three games before facing Valencia - drawing with Wolves before losing to Derby in the EFL Cup and West Ham in the Premier League - and that run extended with a 0-0 draw against the Spanish side on Tuesday.
Mourinho felt a lack of confidence from United going forward proved costly against Valencia, and highlighted the Red Devils' lack of quality in building moves from defence - a pointed reference to Ed Woodward's refusal to back Mourinho in his summer pursuit of a ball-playing centre-back as United missed out on the likes of Harry Maguire and Toby Alderweireld.
In Pictures | Manchester United vs Valencia | 02/10/2018
Mourinho told BT Sport 2: "We had probably a couple of the biggest chances to win it, but I have accepted the result as a fair result.
"I said in pre-season, last season was phenomenal to finish second. And I don't say more than that.
"The players tried. They raised the level of their efforts. They raised the level of their intensity in spite of the fact we don't have many with that intensity. We don't have the technical quality to build from the back.
"We tried to do something we did well, which was to stop a fast team on the counter-attack. We knew we wouldn't create 20 chances. Our attacking players aren't in their best moments of confidence and individual level.
"We thought with three or four chances we would score and win the game.
