Ten Hag said: "All compliments to the team. We played very good to our identity. Very strong. You have seen how we can play when we have the players on board. Some were not even match fit but the performance was very good.
"I tell you (media) this all year - when the players are fit we can play good football. A very good performance against the best team in the world.
"With a local rivalry it's there and it's much more important when you play a team from your own city. But for us it wasn't about this, it was to prove a point after so many setbacks. The team showed so much resilience and I'm proud of them."
On if criticism of his team has been unfair, Ten Hag added: "I think so. The team. Me as well. It was not right.
"But we didn't have the players. We have seen the same things, not always good football - definitely not - but we had to make compromises all the fime and then you can't play the football you want to play.
"I had maybe three or four times in two years we had the full squad available. Even today we were missing massive players like Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Casemiro."