Erik ten Hag accepts Manchester United are in a “bad place”, but he stresses managing the Reds is not an impossible job. The former Ajax boss has urged his players to fight their way out of their current bad run.
The Dutchman is doing all he can to get United back to winning ways, and in doing so his aim is to get us back to winning Premier League titles. That won’t be achievable this season.
In turn, Ten Hag was asked whether he had an impossible job at Old Trafford.
He told reporters (via Irish Examiner): “It’s the wrong way (to look at it). We have to fight. I think there is no club where it never goes down.
“We are in a bad place but then you have to fight. You have to realise, everyone, that we are there and you have to fight together and you are on one page on every occasion.”
United are back in action on Saturday at 3pm against Brentford. They go into the game after losing 3-2 to Galatasaray on Tuesday night.
Ten Hag added: “We were for 28 minutes on one page, we score a goal, and then in one split second we are not on one page.
“It was the first shot the opponent got and straight in. You can’t allow it in top football because it’s about moments, it’s about details. Opponents will always benefit from it so we can’t allow these small details.”
The defeat on Tuesday night means United have now lost six of their 10 games so far this season. That’s a miserable start, but in facing Brentford we know they’ve only managed one win in the league since it began in August.
Ten Hag has called for his players to keep their heads in the coming weeks in order to ride out the storm, saying: “It’s patience, cool heads, but stick together and focus on what it’s about, the way of play.
“I knew there would be gaps, would be setbacks, and there will be in every process. It’s coming probably more, that’s understandable. But focus on the things it’s about, and that’s football, and nothing else.
“We are still in a transition but in the meantime we have to win every game and we don’t walk away from that. Not this team, not these coaches, not this manager, definitely not. That is the approach and that will be the approach always.”
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