Erik ten Hag and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are not reading off the same Manchester United page

Manchester United have scored the same number of Premier League goals as Luton Town.

That fact was presented to an increasingly under pressure Erik ten Hag after defeat in the Manchester derby and he responded: "I don't think it's a good question today. From January, we scored many goals, so I think we are really progressing on that side.

"Our frontline is absolutely a threat, we have to see Rasmus Hojlund if we get him back. But we see Garnacho, Rashford, Bruno behind, they will get goals, create chances, we can score more goals to win the football games."

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United have a goal difference of -2 and their performances have been far from good enough, but Ten Hag played down the gulf between his side and Manchester City at the weekend.

When asked whether the game highlighted the chasm between the two clubs, Ten Hag said: "Absolutely not. We have many problems in injuries and we had an opportunity because it was really small margins. We could have scored a second goal in a debatable moment and in the second debatable moment. It's not that big when we have everyone on board."

Ten Hag has been forced to contend with an injury crisis this season, but Tottenham and Fulham were both without their best players through injury in recent visits to Old Trafford. The away team was the better side in both games and their respective approaches were unchanged.

The injury crisis has been used as an explainer for the team's regression, but there should still be a clear, distinguishable plan regardless of the personnel on the pitch.

Ten Hag's approach to the Manchester derby could not be criticised. The right