Rasmus Hojlund says Manchester United must stick together if they are to emerge from a “tough period” that has put Erik ten Hag’s side under intense scrutiny and pressure.
Having won the Carabao Cup, reached the FA Cup final and finished third during the Dutchman’s first campaign in change, things have gone dramatically awry this term.
United have lost four of their opening seven matches for the first time in the Premier League era and are pointless after their first two Champions League group games.
Erik's post-match thoughts with #MUTV.#MUFC || #UCL
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 3, 2023
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There was no disgrace in the 4-3 loss at Bayern Munich a fortnight ago, but Tuesday’s 3-2 collapse at home to a Galatasaray side that had never won in England before is something else.
“Of course it’s not about the individual performance,” Hojlund said.
“It’s about getting the three points and at the moment we’re not doing good enough.
“We need to remember we can’t get goals (go in) right after we score.
“We’ve had a few games now where they just score after we scored.
“We need to go back and analyse that tomorrow and talk about it in the group.
“Of course it’s a tough period now but we need to stick together and that’s the only way we can get out of this period.”
Hojlund opened the scoring on Tuesday with his first Old Trafford goal, only for grinning former United forward Wilfried Zaha to level for Galatasaray.
Summer signing Hojlund raced through to score a superb second after he saw an earlier effort ruled out for offside, but Kerem Akturkoglu quickly equalise for the visitors.
That goal sent United into a tailspin. Andre Onana’s horror pass led to Casemiro getting a red card and the Turkish champions winning a penalty, which Mauro Icardi missed but quickly atoned for when racing through to dink home.
“We need to get some points now if we want to play in Champions League after the group stage,” Hojlund said ahead of matches home and away to former club FC Copenhagen.
“I am looking forward to playing against them because it’s a former club, my brothers are playing there, and I have a big heart for Copenhagen.
“But now I play in Manchester United and we need to get some points out of them.”
United players kept their heads down as they walked through interview area after a chastening loss in which Hojlund’s display was the only highlight.
The Old Trafford giants went for promise over a proven goalscorer when signing the 20-year-old international from Atalanta in the summer and he enjoyed his breakout moment on Tuesday.
“It’s about getting in there,” Hojlund told MUTV. “For me, I always try to get into the dangerous positions.
“Today I got the ball three times (there), if you count the offside goal as well.
“I’ve been bought to be scoring goals and now I was happy to score two today.
“Marcus (Rashford) and I talk to each other and he knows that I’m going to be there.
“He knows that I can keep up with his pace when we go on the counter and we saw a glimpse of that today.
“(The second goal) was a good feeling. I got cheated a little bit before because of the offside (with my second goal) but, yeah, it was an incredible goal.
“I like to call that a signature Rasmus goal – on the left side, running a lot so, yeah, it was nice.”
