Mason Mount’s latest comments help explain Erik ten Hag’s biggest problem at Man United this season

Manchester United have struggled to find their form so far during Erik ten Hag’s second season in charge at Old Trafford despite several big-money signings.

The Reds have lost six games in the opening 10 of the campaign and have been fortunate in a couple of their victories. Scott McTominay’s late double saved Ten Hag’s blushes last time out in their 2-1 win over Brentford.

However, this comes so soon after what appeared to be a positive season for United, so what has happened?

It is, of course, many different things which have caused the difficulties so far this term. Yet, Mason Mount has helped explain perhaps the biggest problem during an interview with talkSPORT this week.

The summer addition said: “Integrating in the team, understanding the way the managers wants to play – I am learning the players around me, how they play. It takes some time to understand that and get into a flow. I want to improve my performances but I think that will come over time.”

It is absolutely no secret that United have had an injury crisis at the start of this season. Many have focused on the fact that this hampers Ten Hag as he’s missing key players.

That is true. But the amount of injuries and the fact that they have staggered throughout the opening months means that the team has been constantly changing.

The defensive line has had eight different iterations in the opening ten games. In both midfield and the front line, Ten Hag has lined up with six different combinations each.

Whilst it can also be argued that this is somewhat down to Ten Hag tinkering with the team to try and spark life into performances, it is largely forced through the amount of injuries across the opening months of the season.

Mix this with players like Mount, Sofyan Amrabat, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana; who need to learn the players around them, and it’s difficult because those players are different every game.

United are still missing several key players. Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw were both key for the team last term. But others have returned from injury and now Ten Hag can hopefully start addressing that issue and find a consistent side to help United regain some momentum in the Premier League especially.