Erik Ten Hag Asks For More Time At Manchester United
by Sam Pilger · ForbesManchester United manager Erik ten Hag has pleaded for more time to revive the club in the aftermath of yet another disappointing performance.
United suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday to prompt speculation Ten Hag could soon lose his job.
The defeat left United slumped in 12th place in the Premier League table with just seven points from their first six games, and a goal difference of minus three.
“I am not thinking about this,” Ten Hag replied when asked if the club’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his executives could make a change of manager.
“We all made in the summer the decision to stay together, as an ownership, a leadership group. Also we made the decision from a clear review what we have to improve and how we want to construct a squad. But we knew it will take some time, how the window went, some players late in like Manuel Ugarte.”
“Also we have to make some improvement in organisation, we still have some injuries, we need some time. We are all on one page or in one boat together, the ownership, the staff and the players as well. I don’t have that concern.”
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The scoreline was bad, but the performance was even worse from United, who went behind after only three minutes and allowed Tottenham to have 61% possession and 24 shots on goal.
It was only the performance of their goalkeeper Andre Onana that prevented an even worse scoreline for United.
“What I saw in the first 30 minutes is below the level of what we can expect from a Manchester United team and even when you concede so early you should stay calm and just stick together and stick to the plan then you would have a foothold in the game and we didn’t have this.”
"You saw that we were stressful on the ball from that moment on the opening goal. We had too many mistakes. The press was no good in the first half. We conceded some counter-attacks after we countered and we made some very bad decisions when we had a lot of space. It was a bad start to the game.”
“Tottenham were dominant. We couldn't get the right press. We also made mistakes in possession. We couldn't find the spare man, we couldn't pass over the press."
United also had their captain Bruno Fernandes sent off three minutes before half-time for a late tackle on James Maddison. "The referee gave him a red card and I've got my opinion, and I don't think it's a red card,” said Ten Hag.
United must now quickly regroup as they face difficult fixtures away to FC Porto in the Europa League and Aston Villa in the Premier League over the next week.
"It is always a new day,” Ten Hag said. “I told them, just in the dressing room, to come on. Tomorrow is a new day. We definitely have to learn, we have to do things better. We have to be better in the pressing and also better on the ball. There were situations where we could have played better, found the spare man and kept the ball and we didn't, which was so disappointing.”
“I just focus on Porto. We close this game down, deal with it and then we move on. We will turn this around. Tomorrow, we will start all over again. The season is still very young, with many games to play."