Erik ten Hag claims Manchester United will improve when two players are available

Erik ten Hag believes Manchester United will improve once Cristiano Ronaldo and Anthony Martial are both consistently available.

Martial started in all five of the first-team's pre-season friendlies but sustained a hamstring injury against Atletico Madrid on July 30 and he has missed nine of United's 13 fixtures through three separate lay-offs.

Ronaldo did not travel on United's pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia due to a personal matter and played 45 minutes in their final friendly against Rayo Vallecano on July 31.

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Martial has started only once and lasted 29 minutes at Everton, where he was replaced by the eventual matchwinner Ronaldo.

There are mounting concerns over United's goalscoring ability as they have only tallied 13 goals in nine Premier League games and required a 93rd-minute Scott McTominay strike to see off Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League at Old Trafford last week.

United are a creditable fifth in the league and a point away from qualifying for the Europa League knockout stage but trail Wednesday night's opponents Tottenham, in third, by seven points and travel to fourth-place Chelsea on Saturday.

"I think that is a good question," Ten Hag replied when asked if United could be better off. "There are obviously many problems and we had to integrate many players.

"We had to deal with problems offensively from the start: Cristiano Ronaldo was unavailable, Anthony Martial was not on the pitch and didn’t play a full game until now.

"I’m sure when that is better, with two No.9s present and fit in a good, combative shape, the results from the team will improve.

"I’m a person that is never satisfied. I am happy to be here but I’m not satisfied