<img title="Manchester United defender Chris Smalling (right) and Feyenoord&rsquo;s Nicolai Joergensen tussle for the ball during the Europa League tie at Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam on Thursday. Pic/Getty Images" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2016/sep/17chris-smalling.jpg" alt="Manchester United defender Chris Smalling (right) and Feyenoord&rsquo;s Nicolai Joergensen tussle for the ball during the Europa League tie at Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam on Thursday. Pic/Getty Images" />Manchester United defender Chris Smalling (right) and Feyenoord&rsquo;s Nicolai Joergensen tussle for the ball during the Europa League tie at Feijenoord Stadion in Rotterdam on Thursday. Pic/Getty Images
Rotterdam: Chris Smalling says Manchester United's players need to stand up and be counted to avoid an &ldquo;unacceptable&rdquo; third successive defeat.
The 2-1 home defeat to Pep Guardiola&rsquo;s Manchester City was compounded as Feyenoord eked out a late 1-0 win in Thursday&rsquo;s Europa League opener. 'Not up to standards' Stand-in captain Smalling admitted &ldquo;we didn&rsquo;t play up to our standards&rdquo; in Holland and that United can ill-afford another loss when they return to Premier League action at Watford on Sunday. &ldquo;I think if anything, that&rsquo;s a good thing,&rdquo; the centre-back said of the quick turnaround.
&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have time to dwell and we have a few days to recover. We make sure that we stand up and be counted on Sunday because we&rsquo;ve got a big result to get. I think the confidence does take a little knock, but I think we can&rsquo;t forget some of the chances we created. I think on Sunday character...needs to shine through because it&rsquo;s unacceptable to lose three games in a row.&rdquo;
'Unfortunate offside goal' The fact that Feyenoord Nicolai Jorgensen was not called offside in the build-up to Tonny Vilhena&rsquo;s later winner &mdash; something that irked Smalling, as did the overall display. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve not seen it myself but it&rsquo;s unfortunate if that is the case,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I think as much as they didn&rsquo;t create too many chances, I think on our part we didn&rsquo;t create enough chances either.&rdquo;
Manchester United&rsquo;s difficult evening was almost made worse as Chris Smalling nearly missed the flight home after struggling to produce a sample at doping control.

Chris Smalling terms Man United&rsquo;s 0-1 loss to Feyenoord as unacceptable; urges teammates to make turnaround against Watford in EPL on Sunday

'Stand up and be counted'

Hungry Pep Guardiola wants more from Manchester City

Chris Smalling terms Man United&rsquo;s 0-1 loss to Feyenoord as unacceptable; urges teammates to make turnaround against Watford in EPL on Sunday

'Stand up and be counted'

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'Stand up and be counted'

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