Bournemouth the latest to expose Manchester United's flaws

Bournemouth 2 Manchester United 2

THE flaws and weaknesses of this Manchester United side appear more evident the longer the season progresses.

And with every sub-standard performance, the case for Erik ten Hag being given the opportunity to remedy those problems next season weakens.

The United manager has pointed to the injuries that have affected his squad, particularly in defence and complained about his side’s bad luck in being on the wrong end of a number of contentious decisions recently.

On Saturday, luck was decidedly on United’s side, with Ten Hag’s team benefiting from two contentious decisions - the award of a penalty when the ball struck the arm of Bournemouth defender Adam Smith and the added time intervention of VAR to rule contact was outside the box when home midfielder Ryan Christie went to ground - and no amount of injuries could explain their shambolic defending.

Ten Hag was reduced to praising his side’s resilience after twice recovering after falling behind, on both occasions through Bruno Fernandes, one of the few United players to approach anything like the expected standard.

This, though, was by no means a one off and was simply the latest disjointed, incoherent display from a side that has fallen out of the race for the top four after just one win in six league games.

The manager’s growing frustration was evident when he was asked about the possibility of his side finishing lower than seventh and recording the club’s worst ever Premier League finish.

"I don't comment. That is not important for this moment,” he said, before abruptly ending his post-match press conference.

There will be more uncomfortable questions to come unless Ten Hag can conjure a significant improvement during the remaining