De Gea: It's like Man Utd need to concede before we attack

David de Gea admits that Manchester United are not enjoying their finest season, with Jose Mourinho’s side often needing to concede before being sparked into life.

The 2018-19 campaign has been a testing one for all concerned at Old Trafford, with inconsistency holding them back in Premier League and Champions League competition.

Mourinho has failed to settle on preferred starting XI, outside of having De Gea as his first-choice goalkeeper, while talk of divides within the camp has proved to be an unwelcome distraction.

United find themselves stuck in an unfamiliar mid-table berth as a result, with too many fixtures having passed them by or seen them forced to play catch-up after falling behind.

“I don't think it's been our finest season. We have to be realistic,” De Gea told Sky Sports.

“The team has produced some good performances, while others haven't been so good. I think at times we've been relying on moments of brilliance from our attacking players.

“We haven't been 100 per cent solid defensively. We are improving, but I think we have to improve in all areas.

“It's true that it seems we need to concede for the team to react, attack and create chances. I don't know the reason why. We have to control games, create chances and improve from the start.

“We have to improve in every area. We have to look up, get some victories, put together four or five wins on the bounce and get ourselves up the table.”

United will get the chance to spark such a run when they play host to Everton on Sunday, with that contest seeing Mourinho’s men continue a gruelling sequence of games which is also set to pitch them into battle with Bournemouth, Juventus and derby rivals Manchester City.

"I don't think it's the time to look into the future. I think we have to take it game by game,” said De Gea.

"As I said, we're trying to get on a winning run, move up the table as soon as possible and battle to finish as high as we can.

"I think the key lies in controlling the game, not giving our opponents any chances and being solid defensively. We have to start when the referee's whistle goes and all be 100 percent focused, particularly in the opening few minutes.

"We will work well as a team if we do that. We have good players up front. We'll do what we've worked on in training and know how to do. We'll try to create chances, score goals and ensure the fans enjoy it."