United’s last four games have been against Brighton twice, Crystal Palace and Brentford and they have lost all of them, scoring one goal and conceding 11.
The rot runs deep, and Ten Hag appears to need big-money signings to turn the tide, although no quick fix seems likely and many fans insist a change of ownership is the only way for England’s most successful club to revive former glories.
Ben Mee celebrates Brentford’s third goal in the 4-0 win over Manchester United.Credit:Getty
“I hoped for a better start, but still I have to believe because I have seen good things but the two games from now are disappointing. It is about taking responsibility on the pitch, you cannot make such mistakes at our level,” Ten Hag said.
“It is clear we need players but I don’t want to think about that at this moment. The good players we had should have been better. We will analyze and we will move forward but one thing is quite clear, we have to do things better.
“This team is good enough to beat Brighton and Brentford which we didn’t do so we have to question ourselves.”
United’s transfer activity had been underwhelming. They spent about £50 million pounds ($85m) on Ajax central defender Lisandro Martinez but he was substituted at half-time on Saturday after a torrid time against an inspired Brentford.
There were no such dramas for the blue half of Manchester, with City cruising to a 4-0 win over Bournemouth.Credit:Getty
Christian Eriksen, who joined on a free transfer from Brentford, was guilty for the second goal.
Brentford, whose starting line-up cost in the region of £55 million pounds, were simply too tenacious and organized for United’s whose combined price tag was upwards of seven times that.
“It felt like we were on top of everything. They couldn’t cope with our pressure, our second balls, our intensity. You could see they were struggling,” Brentford midfielder Mathias Jensen told Sky Sports.
Rubbing salt into the wound, meanwhile, champions Manchester City raised the bar even higher when they crushed promoted Bournemouth 4-0 to maintain their fast start.
Gabriel Jesus continued his flight to start to life at Arsenal with a double against Leicester.Credit:Getty
Arsenal joined Pep Guardiola’s side on six points as former City striker Gabriel Jesus struck twice in a 4-2 win over Leicester City.
Leeds United looked on course for a second successive win but squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Southampton, one of three draws on a sultry Saturday afternoon. Brighton and Newcastle played out a scoreless stalemate, as did Wolves and Fulham. Aston Villa beat Everton 2-1 in the early kick-off.
City, bidding for a fifth Premier League title in six seasons, cruised to an opening win at West Ham United last week and were equally dominant against Bournemouth.
loading
They wasted no time getting into their stride in the sunshine as Norway striker Erling Haaland marked his home debut with an assist for Ilkay Gundogan’s opener after 19 minutes.
City cut loose and scored a sumptuous second goal 12 minutes later when Kevin De Bruyne curled a fine strike into the net with the outside of his foot.
Phil Foden added another before half-time from De Bruyne’s assist and it was just a matter of how many more the hosts would help themselves to. In the end they managed only one more courtesy of Jefferson Lerma’s own goal but they spent most of the second half on cruise control.
Reuters
Watch every match of the UEFA Champions League streaming ad-free, live and exclusive on Stan Sport. Returns Wednesday, September 7.