Fighting talk from Ten Hag, but United lurch further into crisis

Brighton defeat comes during another tempestuous period in the club’s very public descent into dysfunction.

Manchester United's Victor Lindelof (left) and Brighton and Hove Albion's Evan Ferguson battle for the ball during the Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Picture  Martin Rickett/PA Wire 

ERIK ten Hag was positively Churchillian in his declaration that “we will turn it” when it comes to Manchester United’s flagging fortunes.

But the preceding 90-plus minutes, and a third league defeat already in this new campaign, suggested otherwise; as did the reaction of supporters who, for the first time in the Dutchman’s 13-month reign, widely disapproved of one of his decisions.