Erik ten Hag's admission about Man Utd and England star's form amid surprising verdict on Crystal Palace loss

Erik ten Hag has admitted Marcus Rashford is struggling for form after the England man endured another frustrating afternoon in Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace.

Joachim Andersen scored the only goal of the game 25 minutes in with defeat meaning it is the worst start to a season for United since 1989.

Rashford was replaced with 13 minutes to play on a day where the hosts had 77% of the possession but created very little.

“I think he knows he can do better than he’s doing now. I’m sure it’ll come,” ten Hag said. “He works hard, he will finish and it will come. It’s not automatic.

“As you’ve seen today, we were in the right positions and the decision-making was not good enough and we didn't score.”

Asked further about his side’s performance, ten Hag felt his side were largely “in control” but struggled in both boxes.

United had four shots on target to Palace’s two, despite having so much more of the ball, and the Dutchman could not criticise his side’s endeavour.

“I can’t blame the players,” he said. I think they gave everything but in the final part and in both boxes we didn’t do well.

“We only conceded three chances and they were from set plays. That tells me we were in control.

“We were often in the right position and then in the final part we didn’t make the right decisions and that’s of course very disappointing. We have to be more clinical, we have to be more determined to score.”