Erik ten Hag insists Manchester United’s poor start to the campaign is nothing “to panic about” as the under-fire manager ignores talk of the sack and focuses on ending the season with more silverware. May’s FA Cup final win against rivals Manchester City was the high point in a miserable campaign and helped save the Dutch man’s job after lengthy deliberation by ambitious Ineos.
But Ten Hag’s third season in charge has begun alarmingly, with Sunday’s 0-3 home humbling by Tottenham ratcheting up the pressure on the United manager. The 54-year-old is under the spotlight heading into Thursday’s Europa League clash at Porto and the Premier League trip to Aston Villa on Sunday, yet he remains in defiant mood.
Asked if he thinks he will still be at United if the next two matches do not go well, Ten Hag told Sky Sports: “I’m not thinking about this. I’m not anxious … We are in here together. We made in the summer togetherness, the ownership, the leadership, this agreement, and we are all behind it. We knew also what the strategy with young players in a transition period was and we know then also in which process you can come. This can happen but also they know in the end, when we are in May, in all my last six seasons always there were trophies, and that is what we are also now aiming for.”
Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup in his first campaign and the FA Cup last term, but he will have to make it through the autumn if he is to stand any chance of lifting another trophy with United. September began and ended with 3-0 home defeats to Liverpool and Spurs respectively, but the Red Devils boss is calm about their plight.
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“Nothing is easy, but this is nothing for me to panic about because I experienced it so often with my teams during seasons that you are facing those problems,” he said. “So, we can sort them out, this team can sort this out. When it’s in an individual area, we can sort those problems out.”
United are winless in three matches after frustrating draws against Crystal Palace and FC Twente were compounded by Sunday’s shellacking at the hands of Spurs.
Ten Hag knows it was a “bad performance” that needs improving as he blocks out the criticism amid talk this could be his last week in the Old Trafford hot seat. “Once you are manager and especially when you are manager of Manchester United, you know everyone will judge you,” he said. “Much more than any other club, so you have to deal with criticism and don’t make a big deal of it. Focus on the things that you are supposed to do and that is managing the team … don’t focus on negative opinions of you as a person. That doesn’t help the process. I am here to win so I have to show to my team that I give the direction and keep going in that direction we all want to go.”
United’s immediate attention is on the Europa League match in Porto. Harry Maguire trained on the eve of the game having missed the Spurs match with a knock, while Kobbie Mainoo was involved having limped off just before half-time on Sunday. United confirmed Mason Mount avoided a concussion when he was replaced but “missed training as a precaution following the head wound that he sustained” against Tottenham.
