Ruud van Nistelrooy names five games that cost Erik ten Hag his Manchester United job

Ruud van Nistelrooy admits the results were not good enough at Manchester United prior to Erik ten Hag's sacking as first-team manager earlier in the week.

United admitted they had 'no excuse' but to dismiss the Dutchman on Monday morning following the defeat to West Ham in the Premier League, a result that left the 14th in the top-flight.

Van Nistelrooy will be hoping to improve the league position during his stint as interim head coach, with the 48-year-old set to remain in charge when they host Chelsea and Leicester in the Premier League before the next international break.

Although there was clearly room for improvement with regard to United's performances, there were also a number of instances in which luck simply didn't go their way either, including the controversial defeat to West Ham in his final match in charge last weekend.

Asked why United hadn't hit the levels they had expected to do so in pre-season, Ten Hag told reporters during his first press conference: "No in the end it's also clear in football it's the results and Erik also said, as you say in pre season we had new staff very positive, working hard to play forward, obviously there are things you can't explain sometimes. I remember the Brighton goal we scored, then you concede the 2-1, there've been so many games we could've got a better result than Palace, West Ham, Fenerbahce, Porto, it's about results this game, that's our jobs."