Ardie Savea says he backs "my coach" Ian Foster "100 per cent" after New Zealand lifted the gloom with a magnificent 35-23 win over South Africa on Saturday.

Foster may still lose his job as All Blacks head coach despite a thrilling Rugby Championship victory at Ellis Park.

New Zealand opened up a 15-0 lead in the first half, but the world champions came storming back and were in front for the first time with 12 minutes to play.

With Beauden Barrett in the sin bin it looked like the Springboks would extend the All Blacks' losing streak to four matches, but late tries from David Havili and Scott Barrett ensured they stopped the rot and lifted the Freedom Cup.

Foster said he has no idea if he will remain in his role despite the much-needed win, but Savea - who was immense in Johannesburg - is fully behind his embattled head coach.

"This performance was for all of us, but for me, that's my coach, I back him 100 per cent, side by side," said the number eight, who made 13 carries for 58 metres.

"He has been under a lot of pressure, and I know Foz [Foster] doesn't want to make it about himself, but I just want everyone to know that all the players have got his back.

"He's a great coach, he's got great coaches beside him, and we back him 100 per cent. I hope everyone that reads this backs us because we are going to get it."

Asked if Foster deserves to stay on, Savea replied: "Like I said, he's my coach. That's it."

Captain Sam Cane and Samisoni Taukei'aho crossed in the first half, while Richie Mo'unga scored 15 points with the boot for the holders

Savea expressed his pride following another almighty battle at the end of a challenging week.

"The last couple of weeks this team has been through adversity, and in life and sport when you go through adversity it brings the best out of people," he said. 

"I saw something saying belief only takes us so far … it took us pretty far this week. I'm just proud of everyone in this team stepping up, especially at Ellis Park. It's bloody hard, I'm knackered, and can't wait to hit the sack and go see the family next week."

He added: "There are always doubters, always negativity, but that's okay, because that makes everyone better, and people care. Our fans care, the media care, which is fair, but also we had to step up and do our job.

"When people go through adversity, when they're stuck in the trenches, some things come out that make us special. Today that was it, but it's only a start. We've won one out of two in the Rugby Championship, and we’ve got to keep going."

Dave Rennie pulled no punches as he labelled Australia's 48-17 Rugby Championship hammering at the hands of Argentina as a "massive disappointment" and "not good enough".

The depleted Wallabies were without a host of players including fly-half Quade Cooper, who damaged his Achilles in the opening-round win over the Pumas last weekend.

Even accounting for the absentees, Australia were still pre-match favourites but were completely outclassed in San Juan as Argentina ran in seven tries.

It represented the Pumas' biggest ever win over Australia and moved them top of the standings after two games.

Speaking to Stan Sports after the game, New Zealander Rennie made no excuses for his side's poor performance.

"Massive disappointment. That's not good enough," Rennie said.

"We would [like to have a consistent team list] but we had a good enough side to do the job

"We gave them a few soft points early on and fought our way back into it. We have to do better and we'll get a few players back. Whoever puts the jersey on has to front up but we weren't good enough.

"We conceded four tries with kicks in between us and got dominated in the collision area. We created plenty of opportunities but we have to be patient and our rucks not a disaster.

"We just weren't clinical enough. We definitely lacked cohesion with a few changes. We'll look at the footage but we're better than that."

Australia will look to rebound when they host South Africa in Adelaide on August 27.

Nottingham Forest have continued their heavy recruitment drive with the double signing of Emmanuel Dennis and Cheikhou Kouyate.

Nigeria striker Dennis scored 10 Premier League goals for Watford last term but could not prevent the Hornets from being relegated to the Championship.

Dennis played in Watford's first two matches of the campaign but was not involved against Burnley on Friday and has now signed for Forest in a reported £20million deal.

Premier League new boys Forest later confirmed free transfer signing of Kouyate, who had been without a club since leaving Crystal Palace at the end of last season.

Kouyate brings plenty of top-flight experience to the City Ground having made 147 appearances for West Ham before joining Palace and playing 141 games for the Eagles.

Earlier this year, Kouyate helped Senegal to Africa Cup of Nations glory and played his part in securing qualification for this year's World Cup in Qatar.

Dennis and Kouyate became Forest's 13th and 14th signings of the transfer window, joining the likes of Dean Henderson, Jesse Lingard and Taiwo Awoniyi at the East Midlands club.

Brighton and Hove Albion striker Neal Maupay has also been linked with a switch to Forest.

Forest began their return to the Premier League with a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle United last weekend and welcome West Ham on Sunday.

Hubert Hurkacz will contest the second ATP 1000 final of his career after coming from a set behind to defeat world number five Casper Ruud 5-7 6-3 6-2 in the semi-final of the Canadian Open on Saturday.

It was an interesting clash of styles going into the contest, with Hurkacz expected to rely on his dominant serve, while Ruud is one of the game's top returners, so when Ruud responded to an early break and was the one serving up a storm, it spelled trouble for the world number 10.

Ruud landed 78 per cent of his first serves in the opening set, compared to 60 per cent for Hurkacz, and the Norwegian won 95 per cent of those points (20-of-21) to allow just one break point in the frame while creating four for himself.

As Ruud's serve began to falter – with his first serve accuracy and effectiveness both cratering in the second and third set – his game began to struggle to hold up to the metronomic consistency of Hurkacz, who won the ace count 18-to-eight.

After pulling the match even at one set each, Hurkacz took the contest by the scruff of the neck and won the first four games of the deciding frame to pull away.

Poland's Hurkacz – who won his only previous ATP 1000 final against Jannik Sinner at the 2021 Miami Open – will now face Pablo Carreno-Busta in the decider after the Spaniard prevailed in a three-hour war of attrition against Daniel Evans 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 6-2.

In a match that was close in every area, Carreno-Busta was slightly better, winning 68 per cent (68-of-100) of his service points compared to 60 per cent (66-of-110) for Evans, while committing just one double fault compared to the Englishman's six.

It will be Carreno-Busta's first ATP 1000 final appearance, with the 2021 Hamburg Open – an ATP 500 event – the only career title for the 31-year-old above the ATP 250 level.

All three Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks threw at least one touchdown pass in Saturday’s preseason opener, but rookie Kenny Pickett had the most impressive performance. 

Pickett threw for a pair of touchdowns, including a 24-yarder to Tyler Vaughns with three seconds remaining to lift the Steelers to a 32-25 victory over the visiting Seattle Seahawks. 

Pickett, the 20th overall selection in this year’s draft out of Pittsburgh, is competing with Mitch Trubisky and Mason Rudolph to replace retired two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback. He certainly did nothing to hurt his chances on Saturday. 

He played the entire second half and led a seven-play, 75-yard drive on his opening possession, completing all five of his passes, culminating in a three-yard TD pass to Jaylen Warren.  

His winning throw in the waning seconds capped a five-play, 43-yard drive. Pickett finished 13-of-15 for 95 yards with two scores, and completed 10 consecutive passes at one point.  

Trubisky, who spent last season as Josh Allen’s backup in Buffalo, led the Steelers to a TD on the opening possession with a 90-yard drive. He was four-of-seven for 63 yards, connecting with Gunner Olszewski on a 13-yard scoring strike. 

Rudolph, Roethlisberger’s backup the past four seasons, led touchdown and field goal drives on the first two of his three possessions. His 26-yard TD pass to exciting rookie George Pickens gave the Steelers a 14-0 lead. Rudolph was nine-of-15 for 93 yards.  

The Los Angeles Dodgers are the first National League team in 100 years to win 12 consecutive games by multiple runs after they hammered the Kansas City Royals 13-3 away from home on Saturday.

Fans were still finding their seats when Dodgers lead-off hitter Mookie Betts opened the scoring from the fifth pitch of the game, connecting on a 421-foot home run.

It was the first of five runs from the Los Angeles side in the opening frame, with Max Muncy, Justin Turner and Gavin Lux also driving in runs.

Dodgers catcher Will Smith added another couple of tallies with a two-run homer an inning later to establish a 7-0 lead early, and after the Royals snatched two runs back through a Michael Massey triple later in the second, Lux homered in the third and Muncy homered in the fourth to open up a 10-2 buffer.

Cody Bellinger and Joey Gallo gave Dodgers fans who stuck around for the ninth inning a treat, with another two home runs putting the icing on the cake.

Muncy finished with four hits and four RBIs, while Betts went three-for-four at the plate and both Smith and Lux picked up a pair of hits.

Starting on the mound for Los Angeles, Andrew Heaney made it through three innings before he was forced to leave the game early, suffering a contusion in his throwing forearm.

The last National League team to match the Dodgers' feat were the 1922 Pittsburgh Pirates, who had their 13-game multi-run winning streak snapped exactly 100 years ago to the day.

DeGrom dominates the Phillies

New York Mets ace and arguably the best pitcher in all of baseball Jacob deGrom looked at the peak of his powers in his third start of the season, holding the Philadelphia Phillies scoreless through six innings in a 1-0 win.

DeGrom retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced, striking out 10 and making it through his six innings in an efficient 76 pitches. 

The game's only run came in the first inning, with Pete Alonso's base hit scoring Starling Marte, as Phillies starter Aaron Nola also pitched beautifully, going eight full innings with eight strikeouts, allowing one run from four hits and a walk.

Kiner-Falefa the unlikely Yankees hero

The New York Yankees will have a chance to win their three-game series away from home against the Boston Red Sox tomorrow after coming back to win 3-2.

After dropping the first game of their slate 3-2 in extra innings yesterday, the Yankees were in danger of losing their fourth series in a row when they trailed 2-0, before Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning for his first home run of the season.

With the scores still tied at 2-2 in the last frame, Kiner-Falefa came through again as he was able to bunt for a hit while bringing home Andrew Benintendi from third base. From his 103 games this season, it is only the second time he has collected three RBIs.

Inter boss Simone Inzaghi was not pleased with his side's performance in their 2-1 win away from home against Lecce, saying a team with title aspirations can not be relying on a 94th-minute winner.

The Italian giants – who had the best goal difference in Serie A last season (plus 52) – opened the scoring just 81 seconds in, when loan signing Romelu Lukaku headed home Matteo Darmian's cross from point-blank range.

Inter controlled 70 per cent of the possession in the first half and appeared good value for their lead, but the entire complexion of the contest changed two minutes into the second half when Assan Ceesay tucked home his left-foot finish low and hard across Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic after a slick counter-attack.

The 1-1 score would hold until the game's dying moments, when an Inter corner found Lautaro Martinez's head, who flicked it on for substitute defender Denzel Dumfries to force home at the back post.

Speaking to DAZN after the win, Inzaghi said there were positives to look at, but ultimately his side needs to be more emphatic against a newly promoted team playing their first Serie A game in seven years.

"A team like ours cannot win these games [in stoppage time]," he said. "We put a lot of heart on the pitch because we won in the 94th minute, but we have to analyse the game. 

"I am fortunate to have strikers who can play together like [Edin] Dzeko and Lukaku who allow us to play directly, especially on a pitch that was not in great shape at the end, with the midfielders coming in behind them. It is an option that will also be seen in the future.

"We had an excellent half hour, then we got nervous, losing the measures and conceding the equal goal. We could have scored the double before, but a team like this can't suffer so much, and you can't wait until the last moments to win."

When probed further about Lukaku, Inzaghi added: "Lukaku? I am happy, he is working hard, he is back and has a great desire and availability. 

"He can improve like everyone else, but he works like everyone else. He is a driver and he will score a lot of goals from here."

Simona Halep came from a set behind to defeat seventh seed Jessica Pegula 2-6 6-3 6-4 in the semi-final of the Canadian Open on Saturday, booking her place in the final against Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Romania's Halep, the 15th seed, struggled to return Pegula's serve in the opening set, winning just 32 per cent (nine-of-28) of her return points while compounding her early issues with four double faults.

Whether Pegula began to run out of steam, or Halep figured something out, she had significantly more success against the American's serve the rest of the way, winning 55 per cent (12-of-22) of her return points in the second set, and 57 per cent (20-of-35) in the decider.

Halep has now won 11 of her past 13 matches, and Pegula is her third consecutive win against a top-25 opponent after defeating both world number 21 Jil Teichmann and world number 13 Coco Gauff in straight sets. 

While this will be Halep's 18th career WTA 1000 final, it will be Haddad Maia's first, after she emerged triumphant 6-4 7-6 (9-7) against 14th seed Karolina Pliskova.

She did not have a serving advantage against Pliskova, who won the ace count nine-to-one, but she was gritty, saving four of the six break points she faced, and refused to concede the second set after dropping the first three games.

Haddad Maia – the only Brazilian ranked inside the top-100 – has now beaten five consecutive top-25 opponents on her way to the final, including world number one Iga Swiatek, Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic and Canadian hometown hero Leylah Fernandez.

Thomas Tuchel has backed Conor Gallagher and Callum Hudson-Odoi to fight their way into first-team contention at Chelsea. 

However, the Blues boss was philosophical when asked whether either England international could leave in the transfer window, adding: "Nobody is for sale, and everybody is for sale."

Gallagher appeared as a late substitute in Chelsea's opening-day Premier League win over Everton last week, while Hudson-Odoi was absent from the Blues' squad at Goodison Park.

Both players have been linked with moves away due to the competition for places at Stamford Bridge, with Hudson-Odoi a reported target for Borussia Dortmund and Gallagher widely admired after racking up eight Premier League goals and three assists on loan at Crystal Palace last term.

While Tuchel recognises N'Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic represent stern competition for Gallagher, he wants to see him realise his undoubted promise at Chelsea.

"Conor fights in central midfield," Tuchel said ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Tottenham. "To be honest, it is a very tough fight for him because, at the moment, it seems we only have two places in central midfield. 

"Given the amount of players we have for central midfield, it isn't ideal, I agree. But we have to do what's best for the squad, not just for each individual player.

"But at the moment, he is absolutely fine. I am a huge fan of Conor. He is a fantastic guy, and this is what we already knew, in the first weeks of training, he has shown how much of a step he has made through having so much playing time.

"It is a very, very normal situation and his development is that at the moment, after some fantastic training sessions in the beginning, there is a little dip in his form and freshness. 

"On top of that, there's a huge competition with N'Golo, Jorgi and Kova, who are used to playing with each other. 

"This is also life in a big club like Chelsea, so everything is in its right place. We are happy with him. He keeps on fighting, and this is what he does. I think he has everything to become very important in the next years at Chelsea."

Hudson-Odoi has been linked with a move to the Bundesliga on several occasions, having only started 32 Premier League games for Chelsea since his 2018 debut, but Tuchel is also keen to hold onto him.

"Callum is the same. He had a long-term injury and long-term problems to overcome," Tuchel said. "I think he still has a way to go to live up to his potential. His potential is huge. 

"I think having Raheem [Sterling] in can give him an extra boost to step up and see what's needed in these kinds of positions to reach the levels he can honestly reach. 

"But at the moment, he is our player, and he needs to fight, fight, fight. I have nothing more to say."

But with over two weeks remaining in the transfer window, Tuchel refused to rule out a change in the club's strategy.

"In general, nobody is for sale,", Tuchel added. "Nobody is for sale, and everybody is for sale. 

"It depends on what the player wants, how bad the player wants it, what we think about who is ready to pay a certain amount of money, and then maybe everybody is for sale."

American J.J. Spaun is 18 holes away from a wire-to-wire victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship after finishing Saturday one stroke clear of the chasing field, shooting a two-under 68 to head in at 13 under.

After rounds of 62 and 67 had Spaun leading at the conclusion of each of the first two rounds, he opened his round on Saturday with nine consecutive pars, but after bogeying the 10th, he responded with birdies on 11, 16 and 17.

Austria's Sepp Straka was all set to finish tied with Spaun at 13 under before he bogeyed the 18th, leaving him in outright second-place at 12 under.

A pair of serious challengers are part of the three-man group tied for third at 11 under, with Trey Mullinax being joined by potential PGA Tour Player of the Year Cameron Smith and consistent major contender Will Zalatoris.

Zalatoris, specifically, has been in sparkling form after struggling to a one-over opening round, shooting Friday's round of the day with a 63, and only Im Sung-jae posted a better Saturday score than his 65.

In classic Zalatoris fashion, his work with the putter was not pretty – dropping 0.38 shots on the greens according to Data Golf's strokes gained stats – but he thrived from tee-to-green, finishing with the most strokes gained from approach shots (2.90) while coming in third in the off-the-tee category (1.78).

American duo Tyler Duncan and Troy Merritt are tied for sixth at 10 under, while Saturday's top performer Im rode his terrific round to join the logjam at nine under, which features the red-hot Tony Finau and U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

Last week's winner Joo-hyung 'Tom' Kim is a further shot back at eight under along with South Korean compatriot Lee Kyoung-hoon, America's Collin Morikawa and Chile's Joaquin Niemann, with Spain's Jon Rahm and Australia's Adam Scott part of the small group at seven under.

After shooting a 62 on Thursday to be the early joint-leader, Kim Si-woo's week has taken a turn for the worst as he followed it with a 73 on Friday and a 72 on his third trip around TPC Southwind.

Gary Neville was left furious by Manchester United's dismal display in the 4-0 drubbing by Brentford on Saturday, suggesting it is a "real achievement" to be as bad as they are with the money they have spent.

Erik ten Hag's start to life in the Premier League has been abysmal, with a 4-0 loss in the capital leaving United rock-bottom of the Premier League.

United crumbled in a woeful 35-minute spell, as Brentford took United apart and left the vultures circling following on from a defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford last weekend.

With Liverpool next up in the Premier League, the situation looks bleak for United and, amid a struggle to land targets like Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong, Neville took aim at those in charge in a fiery tirade after the match.

"Manchester United have known for eight to 10 months they've needed to rebuild the squad for the summer. Ralf Rangnick [last season's interim manager] described it as open-heart surgery," he told Sky Sports.

"To not get the players in early – the quality of players, the number of players – that Ten Hag needed is baffling and difficult to forgive.

"It's not a stalled market – teams have got their business done. Every club seems to have a plan and Manchester United's seems to be, 'Let's just look at the Dutch league or players that have worked under Ten Hag'.

"That is not a strategy, you can't do that. That was 15 years ago. You've got to have players identified and the work's been done with the agents.

"Yes, of course, you always try to please the manager if he has got a player he's got really good contacts with. But the one he has got good contacts with, they can't get in: Frenkie de Jong.

"It's a real achievement to spend a billion pounds and be this bad. It doesn't take much to dismantle this Manchester United team. It just takes a bit of organisation, a bit of fight, and you're there. If you just rough them up a little bit and get a goal, they're flaky like you wouldn't believe."

Back-to-back defeats to start the season has increased the pressure for United to land additional recruits before the close of the transfer window on September 1, but Neville fears it will be difficult to attract players.

"United in the past have always answered the fans' anger through money and spending in the transfer market. The problem is that now, no one wants to take their money. That's a massive issue. They can't spend the money.

"If you're a player watching that performance in the first half, what are you thinking about coming to this club?"

The second Saturday of the new Premier League campaign did not disappoint, serving up a thrilling comeback, a spectacular home debut and a familiar sinking feeling for Manchester United supporters.

If last week's 2-1 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion represented a baptism of fire for Erik ten Hag, United's trip to Brentford provided further despair as the dismal Red Devils hit a 30-year low.

There was more joy for rivals Manchester City as they cruised to a 4-0 win over Bournemouth, while Gabriel Jesus made good on his pre-season promise with a dominant performance against Leicester City.

Here, Stats Perform trawls through Opta's data to bring you some of the best numbers from the day's Premier League action.

Brentford 4-0 Manchester United: Ten Hag matches unwanted Chapman record against brilliant Bees

Where do you start with this one? New United boss Ten Hag was left in no doubt regarding the side's problems when a Pascal Gross double sent them crashing to an opening-day defeat last week.

But not even the most pessimistic United follower could have predicted their collapse in west London, as Ten Hag became the first Red Devils manager to lose his first two games at the helm since John Chapman in November 1921.

Things got off to a dreadful start when David de Gea let Josh Dasilva's shot squirm into the net after 10 minutes; since the start of the 2018-19 season, only Jordan Pickford (11) has made more errors leading to Premier League goals than the Spaniard.

Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo joined Dasilva on the scoresheet by the 35th minute as Brentford scored with their first four shots on target, while Cristiano Ronaldo cut a dejected figure on his return to the United team.

Only two teams had previously scored four first-half goals against United in a Premier League game; Tottenham in October 2020 and Liverpool in October 2021.

The result is that United have begun a top-flight campaign with back-to-back defeats for the first time since 1992-93, the Premier League's inaugural season.

And while the table has not quite taken shape two games in, United ended the day bottom of the Premier League for the first time since August 21, 1992.

Arsenal 4-2 Leicester City: Miraculous home debut for Jesus

Another side with Champions League ambitions has made a far brighter start to the Premier League season, as Mikel Arteta's Arsenal made it two consecutive wins with an entertaining victory over Leicester.

Former Manchester City forward Jesus was hailed as a coup for the Gunners when he arrived in the off-season, and he enjoyed a home debut to remember by scoring two goals and adding two assists.

In doing so, the Brazilian became the first player to score multiple goals on his home Premier League bow for Arsenal, as well as the first Gunners player to double up for goals and assists in a single league game since Theo Walcott against Newcastle in December 2012 (three goals, two assists).

Before Jesus assisted compatriot Gabriel Martinelli for Arsenal's fourth goal, he became the 12th different Brazilian to score in the Premier League for Arsenal – the most of any side in the competition's history.

Jesus was not the only player to impress, however, with Granit Xhaka both scoring and assisting in the same match for the first time in an Arsenal shirt, 252 games into his Gunners career.

Leicester, meanwhile, were subjected to a familiar feeling of frustration in north London – this was the sixth time they have conceded at least four goals in a Premier League game against Arsenal.

Manchester City 4-0 Bournemouth: Champions cruise despite quiet day for Haaland

Home teams hitting four goals seemed to be a theme of the day, as Pep Guardiola's Premier League champions followed up a win at West Ham by cruising past Bournemouth.

Scott Parker's team were likely not expecting a result at the Etihad Stadium; City have now won all 11 of their Premier League matches against Bournemouth, the best 100 per cent winning record against a particular team in the competition's history.

A Jefferson Lerma own goal came after strikes from Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, as the Cherries made it 17 league matches without a win against City in their history – the most one side has faced another without a victory in English league history.

Kevin De Bruyne was at his creative best for City, scoring his 16th league goal since the start of last season before teeing up Foden's strike.

The Belgian has both scored and assisted in 20 separate Premier League matches since his September 2015 debut. Only Mohamed Salah (24) and Son Heung-min (21) have done so on more occasions in that time.

But while City were rampant, new talisman Haaland was quiet. The Norwegian only managed eight touches and two successful passes, but still managed to make an impact.

One of Haaland's passes was from kick-off, the other teed up Gundogan to score the first goal.

Southampton 2-2 Leeds United: Saints manage rare comeback as Aribo opens account

Elsewhere, Jesse Marsch's Leeds failed to make it two wins from two as Southampton launched a stirring comeback on the south coast.

Rodrigo was on the scoresheet in a win over Wolves last week before hitting a brace at St Marys, making him the first player to score three goals in Leeds' first two games of a Premier League season since Alan Smith in 2000-01.

But Leeds could not hold on, failing to win after going two goals ahead for only the second time in their last 36 Premier League games, and for the first time in 14 such contests (since a 3-3 draw with Charlton Athletic in May 2004).

Southampton have now avoided defeat in two of the last five Premier League games where they have gone two goals down (also a 2-2 draw against Brighton in April), but their love of a comeback is a new characteristic.

Before April, the Saints had only managed one win and one draw from the last 58 Premier League games in which they went two goals behind.

Joe Aribo represents one of their most impressive additions following his arrival from Rangers, and his goal made him the first Nigerian to score in the Premier League for Southampton, as well as the 38th in the competition's history overall.

Erik ten Hag is adamant Manchester United's humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford on Saturday was caused by individual mistakes rather than it being a consequence of flawed tactical decisions.

United were hoping to bounce back from last weekend's 2-1 home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion when they travelled to London, but they left with one of their worst defeats in Premier League history.

Brentford were 4-0 up at half-time, becoming only the third team to reach such a scoreline against United in the Premier League by the interval, while the Red Devils succumbed to a fourth successive league loss for the first time in 43 years.

As such, United finished the day bottom of the Premier League, something that has not occurred since the competition's second matchday ever in August 1992.

Part of United's problem seemed to be their persistence at trying to play out from the back, with Christian Eriksen twice robbed in compromising positions, the second such instance leading to Mathias Jensen making it 2-0 as the United player received a needlessly risky pass from David de Gea.

It was put to Ten Hag in his post-match news conference that United got their tactics wrong against a Brentford side that pressed high with impressive intensity, but the Dutchman refused to accept such an assessment.

"This is a conclusion, I will not admit that," he said. "They can and show already in pre-season this has nothing to do with that and it's about when you make the mistakes you make, every plan and strategy you can put in the bin.

"I think we all have seen the game and I think Brentford was more hungry, and we concede goals in individual mistakes.

"You can have a good plan but we had to put the plan into the bin. I think it had nothing to do with tactical and that the first two goals, it's about dealing with the ball, that's one, and decisions.

"I think they follow my instructions, but they make bad decisions and that's football, it's a game of mistakes and you get punished."

But while Ten Hag is keen for United to try and play out from the back, he was frustrated by the players' inability to adapt to a slightly different approach when aggressive nature of Brentford's pressing became apparent.

Quizzed on Eriksen twice being caught on the ball in deep positions, Ten Hag said: "Yes, but he didn't have to receive the ball there, because we give options and the players have to choose but we said play long, invite them and play long.

"I don't want to play from the back when it's not possible. It was naive how we played today; you have to play more direct. We attracted them, the space was high up the pitch, you have to do that option but that is what we didn't do.

"We will learn, we will have to learn, it's not good enough, clear, it's not the level and the standard how we want to act.

"It's not possible the opponent is more hungry than you are. I saw in the second-half a comeback but you have to start well and it's not good.

"When the results are like this, I can imagine that feeling, it's also no good. That we show that, clear, so we have to change that. We need more hunger on the pitch and show that as an individual and as a team."

Up next for Ten Hag and United is the visit of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool to Old Trafford a week on Monday.