Erik ten Hag needs to find a way to deliver his Manchester United promise

When the Old Trafford scoreboard hit 90 minutes last Saturday afternoon Erik ten Hag, in the back of his mind, would have known the size of the storm coming his way.

United were staring down the barrel of a third successive home defeat and a fifth loss in their opening eight Premier League games. Fortunately for the Dutchman, Scott McTominay was on hand to score twice deep into added time and flip the clash with Brentford on its head, sealing a dramatic 2-1 win.

Had the Scot not come to United's rescue, the mood around the club over this current international break would not have been worth thinking about.

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Though United's late heroics against the Bees avoided a further swathe of negativity, there is no escaping the fact that United's start to this season has not been good enough. They have lost six of their opening 11 games in all competitions, losing each of their opening two Champions League group games, leaving them with a mountain to climb in Group A ahead of the restart later this month.

But it is not just United's results that have been poor, their performances have also been well below par. Even in the Premier League games they have won this season, all of which have been achieved by a one-goal margin, they have had to huff and puff to get over the line.

They made hard work of it against Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Brentford, relying on wasteful finishing from their opponents or benefiting from a slice of luck. With the utmost respect to the three aforementioned clubs United should be making relatively light work of each of them.

The Reds should also be capable of beating