Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag admits his side “switched off” as they slumped to a devastating 2-0 defeat to West Ham United on Saturday.
Late goals from Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus provided a spark to a game which was otherwise flat and saw West Ham leapfrog United in the Premier League table.
After the game, Ten Hag insisted he was generally satisfied with the performance and blamed a lapse in concentration for his side’s downfall.
“I think we had a solid performance,” he told TNT Sports. “I think we controlled the game. We performed very solid, controlling the game in possession.
“We didn’t give chances away in transition, but we have to score. We had the opportunities and we didn’t do it, and then one moment of switching off, we conceded the goal.”
Echoing the thoughts of left-back Luke Shaw, Ten Hag admitted confidence is proving to be a problem for his forwards after a fourth consecutive game without a goal, but the boss backed his misfiring group to rediscover their goalscoring form.
“Always, when strikers don’t score for a couple of games, confidence will decrease,” he said. “They have to believe, They have proved in the past they can do it. Work hard.
“Also as a team, we have to make the passes in the final third, but we have to demand each other to get in the box.”
Ten Hag ended by admitting a lack of consistency with his team selection – injuries and illness have forced the United boss to field no fewer than ten different centre-back partnerships this season so far – is taking its toll.
“They played well,” he said of Jonny Evans and young Willy Kambwala. “Of course, you want to have routines. When the routines are not there, you concede probably a goal like we did. When the routines are in, I think you sort these moments out.”
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