Erik ten Hag refuses to answer awkward question in Manchester United press conference

The Man United manager's post-match briefing ended with an unflattering comparison with the David Moyes season.

Erik ten Hag refused to respond to a question about the possibility of Manchester United suffering their worst season in the Premier League era at his post-match press conference after drawing with Bournemouth.

United avoided what would have been a Premier League-worst 13th defeat of the season at the Vitality Stadium, where Bruno Fernandes equalised twice to salvage a 2-2 draw.

Newcastle leapfrogged United into sixth with their 4-0 lunchtime thrashing of Tottenham and United have fewer points after 32 games than they did under David Moyes in 2013-14.

United finished seventh that season - their worst league finish since they came 16th in the First Division in 1989-90 - and Ten Hag walked out of his press conference when a possible repeat was raised.

"I don't comment on that question," Ten Hag said. "That is not important in this moment."

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United have only won one of their past seven league games and their four-game winless run is their joint-longest of the campaign. Ten Hag again blamed the squad's injury list.

Harry Maguire overcame a first-half issue to complete the full duration of the draw with Bournemouth but 19-year-old Willy Kambwala was culpable for Dominic Solanke's opening goal and was inches away from conceding an added-time penalty.

"So there's good players who's available," Ten Hag explained. "You see our back four: that's telling the story. We know our demand but that tells absolutely the story. Especially if one of the players is struggling and we couldn't sub him as well as we are running out of the centre halves.

"We give all we can but I am also realistic. When the full squad was there, we still could have high belief but we will keep fighting also with the players who are available, you see high potential.

"But also young players make mistakes, if they have to perform every Premier League [game] - they have proved they can compete with the best teams at the highest level - but they have to do it consistently. That's the next step for young players."