Man United captain Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro issue rallying cry to team-mates

Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro led a dressing room rallying cry after defeat to Brighton, urging their Manchester United team-mates to rediscover the strong team spirit they built last season.

Mail Sport can reveal that players outlined their ‘major priority’ to re-establish a spirit that some of them feel has slowly started to be lost on the pitch after three defeats in the opening five games.

There are no concerns with the tactics or Erik ten Hag’s game-plan but more a sense that unfamiliarity between players, with changes brought about due to mounting injuries, the root cause of their stuttering form.

‘We need to build a strong unit again’ was the key message being relayed by captain Fernandes and Casemiro. Marcus Rashford was another senior player who spoke passionately during the post-match debrief.

United denied talk of a bust-up in the dressing room but Mail Sport understands players did rally together in a bid to turn their early season form around - starting against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

Off the pitch noise around the ownership situation - the Glazers are not budging on their asking price despite a tumultuous start to the campaign - plus the changing line-ups are also viewed as contributing factors on the cohesion of the group.

United’s players go into Wednesday night’s Champions League group opener against Bayern with a renewed belief that they can again be a cohesive force at the highest level, targeting a result on the road like the 2-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in 2020.

Ten Hag flatly rejected talk of United being in crisis over the weekend and instead laid down the challenge to his players to step up in the face of the adversity.

‘We have to be disappointed and we have to be very annoyed with ourselves because at United the demand is you win games,’ he said.

‘It’s about character and now we have to see how strong we are and how the team sticks together and which players stand up and lead the team. We need character, belief, resilience and determination absolutely.’

Spirits were high between players at Carrington on Tuesday before they flew out to Germany, with sources close to the side expecting to see more gestures of encouragement to each other if things don’t go to plan at the Allianz Arena.