Erik ten Hag makes bold Man Utd dressing room claim amid mounting crisis
Erik ten Hag came out fighting in his bid to salvage Manchester United's season – and possibly his job.
A lacklustre defeat at Newcastle, disastrous Champions League form and 10 defeats in the 21 league and cup games so far this season have all piled pressure on the Dutchman. But Ten Hag insisted he still has the backing of the United dressing room despite the mounting crisis.
Ten Hag said: “Oh yeah. I know they would have dropped me against Fulham or Burnley if it was the other situation. I am sure, you can see for instance the comeback against Brentford, the Burnley game, the Fulham game, every time the team is there, showed great character, great determination, resilience.
“So we are together. You can see you can’t play such great football as we did lately if there is no unity if the situation was not right, if the environment is not right, and that is not the case. When you play one bad performance you can’t tell the culture is no good. If that was a pattern.
“Of course, there are always in every team players who are not playing or less playing who are less happy, that is not different to normal. But no, there are no issues.”
Marcel Sabitzer completes Man Utd transfer after last-minute deadline day dashTen Hag also claimed that, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he is still the man to turn around the club’s fortunes – and called for unity.
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He said: “There will always be tough times in every journey. We are in the right direction. I know we will get there where we want to be. Because – see my record. Everywhere where I was, every season, I got my targets. If we stick together, stick to the plan and the strategy, we will get where we want to be.”
But, ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford, Ten Hag admits he is battling to tune out the negativity around the club.
He said: “Of course, negativity is never good. You have to take care it never kills the energy. But I don’t care because I know, and all the players know, we are the biggest club in the world, then you know you get a lot of attention.
“You know in the moment results are not going your way and you are not performing how you should, there is coming criticism. You have to deal with that. We are together in that. There is no way you are alone there. We are together in that boat. We know that. So we will deal with it in togetherness.”