Juan Mata has insisted that Manchester United did not deserve to lose their home encounter against Southampton yesterday afternoon.

The hosting Red Devils dominated the possession at Old Trafford, but they failed to have a single shot on target over the course of the 90 minutes.

Despite that, Spanish playmaker Mata, who sent three shots off target, believes that the performance of Louis van Gaal's men was worthy of at least a point.

"To be honest, I don't think we deserved to lose against Southampton. They scored after the break in one of the few chances they had, after a ball that rebounded on the post, and then we tried everything to tie the game. I think we deserved that goal," the 26-year-old wrote on his blog.

"In the last 20 minutes we had chances. I had three myself, but yesterday it seemed the ball just didn't want to go in. It would've been very important to make some of them because I believe we could have even won. I tried every possible way until the end, but we just couldn't make it. Next time it will be a different story, I'm sure."

The defeat, which was inflicted by Saints substitute Dusan Tadic, has seen United drop down to fourth in the Premier League.