Erik ten Hag admits Manchester United face ‘consistency’ issue

Erik ten Hag has admitted Manchester United are struggling to stay alive in key moments of games which has led to their poor form.

United play Brentford at Old Trafford on Saturday after suffering their worst start in 37 years with defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.

Ten Hag emphasised the significance of communication among his players in order to avoid the kinds of failures that opponents tend to take advantage of against his side. United have conceded 18 goals, the most at this point in a season since 1966.

“Consistency, that is the problem we are struggling with,” said Ten Hag. “In parts of the game, I will say in big parts of the game, we do a lot of things right but then there are moments where we are struggling and in such moments we can’t survive.

“In this moment, you have to do the right things, so be consistent and do the job, be consistent in the communication and when you do that you keep the right organisation and do it like before.

“So definitely, you can mark such a moment as when we score a goal or concede a goal and when decisive moments go against us, we lose a bit as a team. Over big parts in 95 per cent of the game, we are a team, so keep going all the way through and we have to step up.”

United are also yet to win a game in their first two games in the UEFA Champions League, losing to Bayern Munich and Galatasaray.