Erik ten Hag will hope to see a reaction from his team tonight when Manchester United take on Nottingham Forest.
Manchester United’s unbeaten run that had been running since the start of 2024 ended last weekend as the Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat against Fulham.
Even though United have been showing good form of late, the result led to an array of reports with question marks over Ten Hag’s future at Old Trafford.
It was even suggested by the Manchester Evening News that United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is ‘not completely sold’ by the Dutch manager, with Ineos Sports group reportedly interested in Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi.
With tonight’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Forest the only remaining route to silverware this season, Ten Hag spoke to former United striker Dion Dublin about how he’s encouraging his players to hold themselves and each other to the club’s “standards”. It is something they’ve fell short on since the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign.
“The noise will always be around Manchester United when we’re not winning football games,” Ten Hag told BBC One (full interview will be shown during tonight’s FA Cup coverage from 19:30 GMT).
“It’s about the standards you set and what is acceptable and what isn’t. On that, we have to be on one page and we are. We know when performances aren’t right and what the standard should be, so we have to look in the mirror and be honest with each other.”
Ten Hag also spoke about United’s position in the league, adding: “Of course we are not happy when we are sixth in the league. We are not happy as Manchester United, so we have to catch up.
“From January on we were in a positive trend and we played very good games and were progressing. We weren’t perfect still, but you saw the potential and we were winning games.
“Now it’s broken by defeat [to Fulham], so we have to change this. We have to be aware that we can’t go into a game giving 90-95%. You have to give everything possible on the pitch and show determination and intimidation in our approach to the opponent. We have to show willingness and belief to win games.”
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