Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag offers bizarre excuse as to why his side have conceded the most shots in a single season ever

MANCHESTER UNITED boss Erik ten Hag has offered up an excuse for his side’s sub-par defending this season.

The Red Devils have conceded over 600 SHOTS this season – their highest ever tally in a Premier League campaign.

Pressure continues to mount on Ten Hag who has struggled to get his side ticking this season on both attacking and defensive fronts.

United are currently 6th in the Premier League table and are some 13 points off the top four having lost 12 games in the league this season.

Their turbulent campaign can to some extent be put down to their propensity to give up chances and allow teams to get shots off against their £47m summer arrival Andre Onana.

But when asked why his team has been unable to limit their opponents’ chances by club legend Gary Neville, Ten Hag offered up an excuse.

The Dutchman pointed towards injuries and a lack of consistent fitness for his defensive woes.

Speaking in the Sky Sports interview, he said: “I see the stats and it’s clear. Last season, we had the consistent back four, we did the same and we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League.

“So when everyone is fit, they can deliver the way we want to defend, but it also has something to do with the possession.

“When you don’t have the players at the back and the patterns, when you don’t have the left-footed players on the left side, you already have to make your adjustments.

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“It changes your way of play, but also your possession and when you have less possession, you also have more shots.

“There are some reasons for why this happens, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the way we want to play because that proves it [last season], where we had the most clean sheets in the Premier League.”

Man Utd have been hit with a huge number of injuries this term with over 60 separate cases of injury or illness hitting the Old Trafford outfit over the season.

But Ten Hag is reluctant to adopt a more defensive approach while his stars recover with concerns over a temporary fix knocking his side’s confidence if results don’t go their way.

He added: “We thought about this [defensive tactics], but one of my objectives here was to bring in a proactive way of play.

“The players will return so if you then adjust, go in a very defensive style and it doesn’t fit to the players we already have, then if you don’t get the results and everyone will lose the confidence.

“Then when the players are back, you have to return back to the proactive and you have lost many times.

“At the same time, you see the proactive style. We improved our attacking game, we scored more goals and were more consistent… in 2024 we have only three defeats.

“We are making improvements, but not enough.

“We know that, we know what it demands and what the standards are. We want to get back to wins so we have to make the next step.

“We have to get into a winning position and then bring it over the line.”

United got off to a stellar start to 2024 remaining unbeaten in their first seven games of the year.

Although things have taken a turn since and in recent weeks results have worsened and Ten Hag has struggled to get his team over the line.

They have won just one of their last six Premier League matches and face a torrid run-in for their remaining five games in all competitions this season.

First up is a flying Crystal Palace team who are unbeaten in four – the Eagles host United on Monday night.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk