Erik ten Hag addresses David de Gea’s distribution problems in Man United’s 4-1 win vs Real Betis

Erik ten Hag has addressed David de Gea’s poor distribution during Manchester United’s 4-1 win against Real Betis on Thursday evening.

The United shot-stopper was criticised for his performance in the Europa League fixture despite The Reds coming out as comfortable victors.

Paul Scholes was one of many who detailed the Spaniard’s weakness of playing out of the back after he went close to conceding following a stray pass to a Betis forward on the edge of his own box.

Ten Hag has insisted that whilst the performance was poor at Old Trafford on Thursday, De Gea has shown improvements in this department and he expects to see an improved showing against Southampton on the weekend.

“I can’t ignore it but I think we’ve seen many games where he’s done really well,” said Ten Hag when quizzed about his goalkeeper;’s distribution problems in the game. “I don’t know what the reason today was, there was a lot of wind, a different ball and he probably had some problems with that. I know he can deal with it and it will be better on Sunday.

“We are working on that, he is working on that but I think we have seen this season that he is improving and he will keep improving, I’m sure.”

De Gea recently broke the record for the most clean sheets for United, after keeping Newcastle out in the Carabao Cup final.

However, questions about his all-round display remain, with reports suggesting that behind the scenes Ten Hag believes his team would show more control in possession if they had a more comfortable ball-playing goalkeeper.

David Raya has emerged as a potential option for The Reds, as they are among a variety of clubs keeping tabs on the Brentford goalkeeper, who has rejected two contract extensions at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Watch the entire press conference from Ten Hag on Beaneyman’s YouTube channel below: