(Reuters) – Manchester United’s poor start to the season can be attributed to a lack of consistency throughout the 90 minutes in games with players’ concentration levels dropping at the wrong moments, manager Erik ten Hag said on Friday.
United have had their worst start to a Premier League season to sit 10th after seven games with three wins and four defeats.
They have also lost three of their last four home games at Old Trafford in all competitions, which include a 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend and a 3-2 defeat by Galatasaray on Tuesday.
“Consistency, that is the problem we are struggling with. In parts of the games, in big parts, we do a lot of things right, but we have moments where we struggle and in such moments we can’t survive,” Ten Hag told reporters.
“We need to do the right things, be consistent and do it like before, so definitely you can mark such a moment like when we score or concede a goal. We have to step up.
“We’ve spoken about it, how we can improve and we make some agreements about that. I think it’s more than one factor, concentration is one, but there’s other things.”
After scoring 30 times in all competitions last season, Marcus Rashford has come in for criticism in the current campaign where he has netted only one league goal.
But Ten Hag said it was just a phase and backed the 25-year-old forward to return to his confident best.
“Strikers, when they don’t score, they need a moment and it will come. He’s so experienced and when he’s doing the right things and the team is, the momentum will come and he’ll be on fire,” Ten Hag said.
“It’s normal not to be always at the same levels. Everyone knows his quality, the opposition also knows. But if Rashy is doing things right and the team is doing things right, putting him in the right places, then it’s up to him.
“We’ve seen in the last weeks, he’s getting into good positions. Now he’s struggling a little bit, but this will pass because everyone knows his qualities.”
Ten Hag said Antony is “ready to start” for the first time since he returned to the squad following police investigations into assault allegations made by his former girlfriend. The 23-year-old came on as a substitute against Galatasaray.
Jadon Sancho remains unavailable as the forward remains exiled from the first-team over a disciplinary issue while Sergio Reguilon is out injured.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
