Manchester United is hard to beat and goals will come, says Ten Hag

United has been far from convincing, especially at Old Trafford where it lost two of its last three league games and beat Brentford thanks to stoppage-time goals from Scott McTominay.

Manchester United’s head coach Erik ten Hag gives instructions to his players during the Champions League group A match between Manchester United and Copenhagen at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England. | Photo Credit: Dave Thompson/ AP

Manchester United has been inconsistent and has struggled to score goals this season but the Old Trafford club are pulling in the right direction, manager Erik ten Hag said on Friday ahead of its Premier League derby against Manchester City on Sunday.

United has been far from convincing, especially at Old Trafford where it lost two of its last three league games and beat Brentford thanks to stoppage-time goals from Scott McTominay.

But Ten Hag’s side have won its last three matches in all competitions and the Dutch manager was upbeat ahead of the clash with the treble winners.

“We are back where we wanted to be. This is a hard team to beat, they find a way to win. So we’re going in the right direction,” Ten Hag told reporters.

“We have a way to go, I see positives and I also see negatives. We are not consistently in positions at the level we can be where we show in games.... We don’t take benefit in the attacking transition moments.”

United is eighth in the table and one of its biggest issues has been the lack of goals. It has scored only 11 in the league -- the fewest by teams in the top half.

“At the moment, (we are) six points back (from City) so we have to catch up. We know we have to progress the team, to make developments. It has to do with the cooperation, the movement around it, we have to work on that,” Ten Hag said.

“The cooperation has to click, but we showed this week some examples where there are so many overload positions... and we don’t net or don’t even hit the target.”

“We don’t have time to train this, we give some coaching and I’m convinced with the quality from our players that they will go and score more goals.”

Ten Hag said Aaron Wan-Bissaka has resumed training after a thigh injury and Casemiro is in a “race against the clock” to be fit.

The club is also talking to the Football Association over Alejandro Garnacho’s social media post in which he used gorilla emojis in a picture with Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana.

“I’m not concerned... but what you see, and I want to emphasise, is that we are united. You saw that with the post of Andre,” Ten Hag said.