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• How does Manchester United’s current struggle compare to previous poor starts?

  Manchester United have endured their worst start to a season since 1986, following Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat at home to Galatasaray.

  United have lost six of their opening 10 games in all competitions, a tally not seen since the latter stages of Ron Atkinson’s managerial reign.

  Here, the PA news agency compares their current struggles with previous poor starts.

  37-year low

  Erik ten Hag’s side were booed off the pitch on Tuesday after another disappointing performance at Old Trafford.

  The 3-2 loss to Galatasaray was United’s second in successive Champions League matches – following a 4-3 reverse against Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich – to go with four Premier League defeats.

  The Red Devils succumbed 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday, compounding previous losses against Brighton, Arsenal and Tottenham.

  A 3-0 win over Palace in the Carabao Cup last week was by far their most convincing of the season, with narrow Premier League victories against Burnley, Nottingham Forest and Wolves doing little to silence the doubters.

  United’s total of six defeats in 10 games is their highest since the 1986-87 season – the year that Sir Alex Ferguson took charge of the club.

  Under Ferguson’s predecessor Atkinson, United lost six of their first eight Premier League games, with a 5-1 win over Southampton in mid-September providing only temporary respite.

  Atkinson was sacked in early November with United in the bottom four of the First Division.

  No defence

  United’s main issues under Ten Hag appear to be in defence, with the Dutchman having watched his side concede 18 goals already this term.

  They have shipped at least three goals on four separate occasions – at home to Galatasaray and Brighton and away to Bayern and Arsenal.

  Goalkeeper Andre Onana is yet to prove himself to be a significant upgrade on David de Gea, while a back four shorn of key injury absentees such as Lisandro Martinez, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw looked all at sea against Wilfried Zaha and co on Tuesday.

  Their total number of goals conceded is higher than the 13 shipped in the first 10 games in 1986-87, and surpasses anything seen in the Ferguson era or subsequently.

  United also struggled defensively at the start of 2022-23, conceding 17 goals in the first 10 games – a tally matched only by Louis van Gaal’s first season (2014-15) and one of Ferguson’s early campaigns at the club (1989-90).

  However, Ten Hag oversaw a significant improvement in the remainder of last season, with United going on to keep a Premier League-leading 17 clean sheets across the whole campaign.

• UK and Ireland bid for Euro 2028 to be unopposed after Turkey withdraw interest

  The UK and Ireland will host Euro 2028, subject to final approval from UEFA’s executive committee next week, after Turkey withdrew its interest.

  The five-nation bid is now the only option on the table for the finals in five years’ time after Turkey pulled out of contention for the 2028 finals to focus on a joint bid with Italy for Euro 2032.

  UEFA will formally announce the hosts for the two tournaments following a meeting of its executive committee in Switzerland next week.

• Rasmus Hojlund says Manchester United must ‘stick together’ in ‘tough period’

  Rasmus Hojlund says Manchester United must stick together if they are to emerge from a “tough period” that has put Erik ten Hag’s side under intense scrutiny and pressure.

  Having won the Carabao Cup, reached the FA Cup final and finished third during the Dutchman’s first campaign in change, things have gone dramatically awry this term.

  United have lost four of their opening seven matches for the first time in the Premier League era and are pointless after their first two Champions League group games.

  There was no disgrace in the 4-3 loss at Bayern Munich a fortnight ago, but Tuesday’s 3-2 collapse at home to a Galatasaray side that had never won in England before is something else.

  “Of course it’s not about the individual performance,” Hojlund said.

  “It’s about getting the three points and at the moment we’re not doing good enough.

  “We need to remember we can’t get goals (go in) right after we score.

  “We’ve had a few games now where they just score after we scored.

  “We need to go back and analyse that tomorrow and talk about it in the group.

  “Of course it’s a tough period now but we need to stick together and that’s the only way we can get out of this period.”

  Hojlund opened the scoring on Tuesday with his first Old Trafford goal, only for grinning former United forward Wilfried Zaha to level for Galatasaray.

  Summer signing Hojlund raced through to score a superb second after he saw an earlier effort ruled out for offside, but Kerem Akturkoglu quickly equalise for the visitors.

  That goal sent United into a tailspin. Andre Onana’s horror pass led to Casemiro getting a red card and the Turkish champions winning a penalty, which Mauro Icardi missed but quickly atoned for when racing through to dink home.

  “We need to get some points now if we want to play in Champions League after the group stage,” Hojlund said ahead of matches home and away to former club FC Copenhagen.

  “I am looking forward to playing against them because it’s a former club, my brothers are playing there, and I have a big heart for Copenhagen.

  “But now I play in Manchester United and we need to get some points out of them.”

  United players kept their heads down as they walked through interview area after a chastening loss in which Hojlund’s display was the only highlight.

  The Old Trafford giants went for promise over a proven goalscorer when signing the 20-year-old international from Atalanta in the summer and he enjoyed his breakout moment on Tuesday.

  “It’s about getting in there,” Hojlund told MUTV. “For me, I always try to get into the dangerous positions.

  “Today I got the ball three times (there), if you count the offside goal as well.

  “I’ve been bought to be scoring goals and now I was happy to score two today.

  “Marcus (Rashford) and I talk to each other and he knows that I’m going to be there.

  “He knows that I can keep up with his pace when we go on the counter and we saw a glimpse of that today.

  “(The second goal) was a good feeling. I got cheated a little bit before because of the offside (with my second goal) but, yeah, it was an incredible goal.

  “I like to call that a signature Rasmus goal – on the left side, running a lot so, yeah, it was nice.”