Lift Marcus Rashford up, keep feeding Rasmus Hojlund and six things Erik ten Hag must do to end Man Utd's disastrous run and save his job

United are only having to play Sofyan Amrabat out-of-position as a last resort due to having four of their five natural full-backs out injured, but it clearly isn't working. The Morocco international had a solid first game against a heavily-rotated Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup, but his deficiencies at left-back became apparent in the league game against Palace, when he gave away the free-kick from which the Eagles scored the only goal of the game. He was even more exposed in the blitz against Galatasaray, with two of the visitors' goals coming from his left side.

In the aftermath of the Galatasaray defeat, Ten Hag admitted that the area was a problem. "Maybe we have a little unbalance [on the] left side but we can't make the errors we are making. We have to do better, we have to win our games," he said. The manager also added "there are no excuses" and it is up to him to find a solution.

Sergio Reguilon is the only left-back with hope of returning to face Brentford on Saturday, but it would also be a risk to bring him back before he is fully recovered, especially considering he picked up the injury playing at Burnley despite being ill.

If the Spaniard is still not available, Ten Hag could play Diogo Dalot at left-back and bring Victor Lindelof over to right-back, with either Harry Maguire or Jonny Evans partnering Raphael Varane in the middle. It's not an ideal solution, but it is better than continuing with an experiment that just isn't working.

Hannibal Mejbri is the one United midfielder who looks energised and motivated, and Ten Hag needs to make better use of him. The Tunisia international put in an impressive shift against Burnley two weeks ago, running 12.9 kilometres in the match, more than any other player in a United game since the metric started being recorded in 2019. But he is only being used sparingly.

Ten Hag said that at as Hannibal is only 20, he is not ready to play twice a week, but at the moment United lack so much pace, power and desire in midfield that they need to keep playing him.

Hannibal gave United hope in an otherwise disheartening defeat to Brighton and was one of the top performers at Turf Moor. He looked lively against Galatasaray but was taken off at half-time as he had picked up a booking and United badly suffered in the middle of the park in his absence as they kept on getting cut through on the break.

Like it or not, Hannibal is the hardest working player United have right now and he deserves to play more.

The Galatasaray game showed Rashford at his best and his worst. In the first half, he was at the heart of United's best moves and tore down the right wing to deliver a perfect cross for Rasmus Hojlund to nod in. His movement was excellent and kept the visitors on edge.

But his decision-making after being played clean through on goal in the second half just underlined how low his confidence is. The Rashford of last season would have buried the chance, but instead the striker tried to play in Bruno Fernandes, under-hitting his pass and allowing Galatasaray to clear the danger.

It is clear something is not right with Rashford, but Ten Hag and the forward need to solve the problem together. This is no time for finger-pointing or singling out for blame, and dropping him abruptly is not the answer.

Rashford has used a sports psychologist in the past to work on his mentality and that could be the way to get him firing again. But United need to support their homegrown talisman, and that also goes for the fans, who are getting on his back when they should be getting behind him.

There was at least one silver lining from Tuesday's horrorshow. Hojlund's performance was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney's Champions League debut at Old Trafford - incidentally against Fenerbahce, Galatasaray's arch rivals - and the Danish striker's second goal, bursting through the middle of the pitch from the halfway line, also brought back memories of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

United began the season with no striker due to Hojlund's back injury and Anthony Martial's long-running fitness issues, and suffered as a result. But now they appear to have fixed that problem, and while their £72 million ($87m) man is fit and firing, holes are appearing everywhere else in the squad.

Hojlund, however, can be a galvanising force and another home fixture, this time against Brentford, is the perfect opportunity for him to build on the momentum and score his first Premier League goal, hopefully while leading the team to a much-needed victory.

The Dane thrives on through balls behind the defence, so United need to give him more of those and ensure he has another forward alongside him to take advantage of the chaos he causes.

If there was one thing that United were badly missing against Galatasaray, it was control. The pitch resembled a pinball machine for much of the 90 minutes, with neither team holding on to possession for more than a few seconds.

While the disorder helped United score their second goal, the general chaos did not suit the home side and they kept on getting opened up. They conceded 10 shots and were fortunate to only let in three goals. This was the opposite of the previous game against Palace, when the Eagles scored with their first and only clear opportunity.

While Ten Hag has made it clear that he is not obsessed with having lots of possession, it is clear that he is not Jurgen Klopp and anarchy does not suit his style. He wants his team to control matches and doesn't mind ceding the ball to the opposition, as they did at Burnley, as long as they remain in charge.

That was not the case against Galatasaray, Bayern Munich or Brighton, and United suffered as a result. They need to start dictating the play and getting a grip.

The amount of unexpected mistakes United have made this season just keeps on rising. Onana has gifted a goal to Bayern and a penalty (and subsequent red card for Casemiro) to Galatasaray. Dalot couldn't manage basic defending against Wilfried Zaha while Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez have made a litany of errors.

A lot of these mistakes are individual, but there is also a lack of communication between players and a deep sense that team-mates are simply not on the same page as each other.

This can be corrected on the training ground and through better team cohesion. Ten Hag keeps on saying how together the team are, but these mistakes suggest otherwise. It's up to him to truly bring the team together and ensure they fight for each other on the pitch and don't fall into a cycle of blaming each other.