Manchester United are experiencing a tough start to the season and have now started the campaign in worse form than the first five games of last season, with Erik ten Hag’s men securing just six points so far this season.
United have now suffered back-to-back defeats on either side of this month’s international break and Ten Hag now faces the huge challenge of turning his side’s fortunes around.
In addition to a mountain of issues on the pitch, Ten Hag is dealing with just as many problems off it as Jadon Sancho has become the latest player to become unavailable due to non-football-related matters.
Despite a good start to the game against Brighton on Saturday afternoon, the Seagulls were worthy winners in the end after controlling the majority of the 90-minute affair.
Christian Eriksen, who started in a slightly more advanced role than he is used to at United, has now delivered a downbeat reaction to the latest setback, insisting the players need to look at themselves to get back on track.
“It is a heavy one. We have to look at ourselves. We changed some things but we are disappointed,” Eriksen is quoted as saying by the BBC.
“In the first half we had a lot of moments, had good control. They had a lot of possession but not many chances. They then score with their first chance and the system they play they keep the ball a lot and we had to chase it down. But we still had chances to get back into the game.
“The small things,” Eriksen added when quizzed on what United must improve on. “We had the offside at Arsenal and today when we scored but it was out of play. The small things we are missing and a bit of luck to get over the line and get something out of the effort we put in.
“Any game at the start of the season, doesn’t matter who you play, is very important. We focus on our games and whoever we play we want to win. But we have lost three already and we have to change that.”
There’s very little time for United to recover and analyse today’s loss as a huge test awaits the Reds in just three days when they make the trip to Munich.
United’s return to the Champions League is highly anticipated but as far as opening games go, they don’t come more difficult than this.
