Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen has revealed that he and his teammates had to "go back to basics" following the 4-0 defeat to Brentford, as they learnt to trust in Erik ten Hag's process at the club.
Following defeats to Brighton and Brentford, United fans across the country were left scratching their heads over where all the pre-season optimism and form had suddenly disappeared to.
Ten Hag endured a turbulent start to his tenure at Old Trafford, but has since managed to turn things around. The Reds are currently fifth in the league, just three points behind Tottenham in the Champions League places, with a game in hand on Antonio Conte's side.
The Dutchman has started to see his philosophy take shape on the pitch, as his squad learn and adapt to his style and methods of coaching. Eriksen was one of six new signings that arrived this summer and the Dane has been the beating heart of United's midfield this season.
The former Spurs man has now opened up on how the United squad turned their fortunes around following an alarming start to the campaign.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "It has gone well [the season] in general, of course it was a tough start. I think if we would have lost 2-1 [against Brentford] it would have been different, it would be a crisis but a different vibe. When we lost 4-0 it was like 'okay this is a wake-up call', we need to go back to basics and that's basically what we did.
"From training, that's really when things started to change slowly and really, I think we got to know that it's painful to lose. We don't want to do that anymore and trust that whatever the manager wants us to do on the pitch, trying to believe in his stuff and then luckily the points started picking up."
After their match against Fulham, United will have over a month without football due to the World Cup break. Eriksen also spoke about how proud he is of his national side, as he prepares for another tournament with Denmark.
He said: "The first thing that I said publicly [following his cardiac arrest] was that I wanted to be back and having a chance to be at a World Cup and the time that's happened between then has been really amazing.
"[On the bond the team has] Very tight, I mean, it's always been tight but definitely after what happened it's been even tighter. As a group, even without me the whole group really grew together, together with the country. I remember days where there was no fans in stadiums and now it's sold out even before the game has been announced. So it's just amazing to be part of it, the whole group is in a good place.
"Denmark has changed compared to the last tournament [Euro 2020], because the last tournament that we went to we went through to the semi-finals. Now the pressure is on to even get that better than the semi-finals at the Euros. So I think it's just go as far as possible.
"I think that's changed compared to before where before even the last World Cup in 2018, we had to go through the group and then we take it from there. But I think now we're looking at trying to go as far as possible."
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