The mentality of Manchester United’s team has come under question this season, although Erik ten Hag still believes he can motivate his players despite falling to a 14th defeat in the Premier League this season.
Arsenal forward Leandro Trossard scored Arsenal’s opener in the first half and it proved to be enough to clinch three points as they look to push Man City for the Premier League title.
It was Trossard’s 17th goal of the season – against a side that lost 4-0 to Crystal Palace on Monday night.
Despite the defeat, Ten Hag believes that United’s fans are behind the team and that is side applied the right spirit.
He said (via TNT Sports): “I have no doubt about this [that he can motivate his players] because as I say, maybe at Palace, but I think they are human beings.
“From my experience, that will always happen once in three months, you do not have the right attitude.
“On Monday, we had such a night, but mostly this team always has the right spirit, and they always execute the rules and the principles of the game and how we want them to play.
“I can only be happy, I think the ones who played executed with all that they could, they were competitive and they were fighting and then you can see the result.”
Ten Hag is trying to keep peace within the squad ahead of the FA Cup final. What good would hammering his players do now when we must accept that we are without too many key players due to injury. That is the reason we are struggling to challenge in games like today.
The injury crisis has ripped through Ten Hag’s squad, with midfielder Casemiro deployed at centre-back again against the Gunners.
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He should get a contract extension.
Gad, if only positive words equated to points.
We’d be on top with nil defeats and a goal-difference of plus 30.
Yeah, we’ve had ludicrous amount of injuries – is that going to change next Season without some major change being implemented? Are any new signings able to promise they won’t fall under the spell of this jinx? Of course not.
So what we need is a Manager who can deal with absences, not one who uses them as the sole reason for chronic underperformance.
Does anyone really think injuries are the only reason we’re so dire? Anyone? Come on, anyone?
tbf dale and strettynews seem to think its the main reason – anyone who understands football can see that ETH is the main reason.
what isn’t mentioned is the way ETH sets the team up to play – sprinting up and down the pitch to be ‘the best transition team in the world’ – is likely to cause injuries, especially with older players. it also leads to concentration problems later into the games as it is very tiring to do this.
some united fans say that we need to give him more time, i kind of want to see this, as I genuinely enjoy the excuses that ETH and his supporters come up with.
but lets be honest – v few clubs would accept the depths to which united have sunk – ETH is proof united DON’T make managerial changes, not proof that they do it too often.