Christian Eriksen calls upon his Manchester United team-mates to ‘take a look at ourselves’ after lacklustre 3-1 defeat to Brighton at Old Trafford
- The Danish midfielder decried his side’s lack of clinical edge in the limp loss
- Match was soundtracked by a volley of boos directed at head coach Ten Hag
- Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’
Christian Eriksen has called on Manchester United’s underperforming stars to take a look at themselves and fix up fast after a ‘heavy’ defeat against Brighton.
United raced out of the blocks but soon had the doors blown off in a 3-1 defeat which will be remembered largely for the loud boos directed at boss Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman went with a midfield diamond in a system change for this one but it paid off little and Eriksen, who started on the left of that diamond, believes ‘small things’ are holding United back.
‘It is a heavy one. We have to look at ourselves. We changed some things but we are disappointed,’ the Dane told 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.
Christian Eriksen suggested that his side needed to take themselves in hand after ‘heavy’ loss
Erik ten Hag’s side were overrun by Brighton in their first home defeat in 31 consecutive ties
‘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 chorus of boos that greeted the decision to take off £72million summer signing Rasmus Hojlund, who made his first start for the club, was indicative of a club mired in crisis, even with Ten Hag’s insistence that things are not as bad as it seems.
Hojlund thought he had scored his first United goal in the first half to make it 1-1, only for a VAR check to determine that Marcus Rashford had allowed the ball to go out before he crossed it in. After that Pascal Gross and substitute Joao Pedro were able to add to Danny Welbeck’s opener. Hannibal Mejbri’s late strike for United was a mere consolation.
Three defeats from five league games is a first in the Premier League era for United and boos at the end highlighted the ignominy surrounding United.
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New recruit Rasmus Hojlund almost had his first Old Trafford goal before it was chalked off
But Eriksen, much like his manager, believes it is ‘small’ issues holding them back, not bigger problems at play.
‘The small things,’ he said when asked what needs to be done to turn things around.
‘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.’
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