Manchester United defender has responded to threat from Erik ten Hag

Any supporter will acknowledge defeat in the Premier League is made worse by the international break immediately following it.

Instead of only having to wait a week - sometimes even fewer days if playing in European competition - to make amends for a defeat, the international fixtures make fans chew over their club's performance for longer.

Manchester United's defeat against Arsenal last weekend was a brutal kick in the teeth and this week has dragged on for most supporters, who would have been walking on air if Alejandro Garnacho's goal hadn't been disallowed.

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Garnacho had thought he'd won it when scoring in the 88th minute, only for VAR to review his effort and chalk it off. The international break would have certainly been made easier to endure if victory at the Emirates had been claimed.

Erik ten Hag, who is relatively composed in press conferences, was visibly irked during the post-match debrief with journalists, but he insisted he was content with the performance and that United deserved to have won the game.

He told Sky Sports: "The performance was alright from us. I thought we played a very good game but everything went against us - then you don't win the game. We needed a little bit more luck to win the game.

"You can say you need to finish your chances and that you shouldn't concede. This is all true, but I was happy with the performance."

The result was deflating for everyone involved with the club. It felt like there were just a few positives from the game and the most obvious was Rasmus Hojlund's promising appearance from the bench in the final 20 minutes.

Hojlund has been forced to wait for his debut and he appropriately played like someone who was raring