Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has suggested that his Manchester United squad may need further investment after going down to a shock opening-day defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
Wilfried Zaha netted a double against his old club to follow on from Andros Townsend's early opener and seal a 3-1 win for Roy Hodgson's visitors.
United's only goal of the afternoon came via debutant Donny van de Beek, who finished coolly from close range to give his new employers a chance at 2-1 before Zaha swooped with his second strike.
Van de Beek is to date the sole summer signing made by United, who saw interest for the likes of Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho rebuffed.
And Solskjaer, while signalling United's lack of playing time prior to their first Premier League clash of 2020-21, admits that the club will have to keep searching for new talent before the transfer window closes in October.
"You can see we are short and they deserved the points," Solskjaer explained after the final whistle.
"[Palace] were sharper than us in challenges, tackles. We started off slowly and that had a knock-on effect for the rest of the game when they got the first goal.
"We had a long season last season and we didn't finish until August 16 and we have not had enough preparation time to be sharper. We've worked hard with the ones who've been here, there have been a few players away on internationals.
"I spoke to Roy [Hodgson] and he said they had four friendlies and this was their third competitive game, and it is a big difference to our one against Aston Villa last week.
"You have to make the most of the time you have got and we have already started playing catch-up, of course, and it showed. But we will improve quickly, hopefully quicker than we've seen today. Today was a performance that you don’t see very often from these players because these players are better than that.
"We can play so much better than today. If you look at the players we had on the pitch and on the bench and not here today, we have to look within first and look at ourselves and know we can perform better.
"But we are always looking to improve if there is something out there that is available at the right price. We always want to strengthen. But we can all look ourselves in the mirror instead."