Erik ten Hag 'mad' over Manchester United defeat as he opens up on talks with decision makers

Erik ten Hag has vowed Manchester United will use their "madness" as motivation ahead of two vital games against Porto and Aston Villa this week.

United are 12th in the Premier League table after they were battered 3-0 by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday, their second successive 3-0 league loss at home.

There is mounting uncertainty over Ten Hag's position following another home humbling but the United power brokers are sticking by the Dutchman for this week's fixtures ahead of the October internationals.

"As always, when we are not winning, we are very disappointed and we are also mad, mad with ourselves and especially when you lose a game like Sunday," Ten Hag said in Porto. "Also, after all when you had to play such a long time with ten players (after Bruno Fernandes was sent off). And after the red card is overturned, that gives frustration because such a long time to play with ten is of course never in your advantage and had a real impact on the game but you have to deal with it.

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"We are mad and from the madness we have to get motivation and go onto the next game."

Ten Hag is into his third year as United manager but has repeatedly claimed the club is in "transition" despite investing £625.43million on signings across three summer transfer windows.

Almost every member of Ten Hag's squad has signed a contract or made their debut on his watch, yet he dwelt on his first summer in charge in 2022. Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic were all released by United two years ago.

"Because of course, the first season when I came in we had to replace six or seven older players, like Mata, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, so we started a process," Ten Hag explained. "But also this summer, we still had to replace some other players.

"We replaced them with many young players, like Zirkzee and Leny Yoro. They need time to get used to the standards of the Premier League, the standards of a club as United, especially, we have to fit them in our game model and in the standards of the league they are playing in."

Technical director Jason Wilcox is the closest to Ten Hag of the members from the United hierarchy and observes training at their Carrington training complex. Sporting director Dan Ashworth has in the past warned of judging a manager on a short-term run of results and United have won three of their nine matches this term.

They have also won six of their past 19 in the Premier League and lost 17 of their past 44 league matches. Ten Hag is adamant he does not require a confidence boost from the club's decision makers.

"We talk every day," he stressed. "We are on a common journey, we made that agreement in the summer. We had the discussion, we had the review, we made our decisions, we refreshed and reset the staff and I appointed my assistants, I appointed the staff, it was a common process but I did this.

"We refreshed the squad as well, we chose to especially contract young players with typical abilities, abilities we know that are high potential really for the future as well because this club wants to be back on top.

"There’s a project, a long-term project and we set a target to be back over several years to be champions and the highest Champions League and it is a long-term journey. We went in that boat and we are on the same page in the summer.

"We will keep going in that process, we will talk every day, we will evaluate, review the process, where it is necessary we will make our decisions."