Diogo Dalot disagrees with Erik ten Hag by claiming Man Utd are taking 'too many risks' when defending

United twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at the Cherries on Saturday in another unconvincing display. The hosts had 20 shots on goal at the Vitality Stadium, meaning the Red Devils have faced nearly 600 efforts this season - the worst in the division on average. Defender Dalot highlighted how they are too open at the back, which somewhat flies in the face of what Ten Hag said last month when the Dutchman stated he was not concerned about the number of goals and chances they were conceding.

He told Manchester Evening News: "I think it’s a fact, something we are looking for. Maybe we are taking too many risks, sometimes the gap between the defence and midfield is a little bit too big. This is why we are sometimes getting the counter-attacks too many times and are conceding too many shots, but overall we are looking forward to taking this as a learning process and trying to do better. I’m disappointed. We wanted to come here and get the three points. We were down twice, so we had the hunger to fight for the game. I think we lost control in situations we shouldn’t and that was the script of the match. I mean, we lost a little bit of control, especially building up from the back in situations where we shouldn’t and we conceded two goals in the first half - we could have avoided that, but overall we have the attitude to fight for the result and that’s a positive to take away."

While United have the fifth-best defence in the Premier League, they have still conceded 48 goals in 32 games and they are facing a similar amount of shots to relegation-threatened Luton Town and Sheffield United. This seems another reason why things are not rosy for under-pressure manager Ten Hag - whose side dropped to seventh in the table after Saturday's result.

After the 1-1 draw with Brentford in late March, where they had more than 30 shots on Andre Onana's goal, Ten Hag said: "As long as we get results, no. I explained it once more, we defended low at times and because Brentford are very direct we lost many many second balls and we had to defend the box. We had a great goalkeeper, he was brilliant tonight, we have to say that also. Our results are quite consistent from January on but we concede shots, but we don't concede so many goals."

United take a break from Premier League action next Sunday when they face Championship outfit Coventry City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley. That competition is the Red Devils' only chance of silverware this season.