Erik ten Hag insisted he was on the same page as the Manchester United hierarchy and said he had received no indication from the owners that he does not retain their support.
On Friday United’s co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe swerved the chance to offer Ten Hag his backing and the Dutchman acknowledged there was pressure to “step up” after a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa, in front of United’s executives, meant the club registered their worst start to a Premier League season. Without a win in five matches in all competitions, United are 14th in the league, five points above the relegation zone after scoring only five goals in seven games. Asked whether he felt he had the support of the United ownership, Ten Hag replied: “I don’t have any idea that is different because they should have told me [if not]. We communicate very openly and transparently.”
Ten Hag said he expected to speak with United’s decision-makers in the coming days. “I speak continuously with them,” he said. “Every week, I would say every day, we talk, so I expect I will speak with them.
“We are all on board together, on one page. We know where we are working to: it’s a long-term project and we have to keep improving the process.”
Ten Hag recognised the growing external noise surrounding his position but believes United are making positive strides, though Harry Maguire leaving Villa Park wearing a protective plastic boot after sustaining an injury before half-time was another blow. “Internally we are disappointed and we know we need to do better; especially we need to score more because after this block of games that’s the area we’re really short,” Ten Hag said. “All the other areas we’re doing really well. We have to be more ruthless, more clinical, more of a killer instinct. We have to work on this.”
Unai Emery, the Aston Villa manager, conceded it was a “fair” result and acknowledged Wednesday’s Champions League win over Bayern Munich affected their performance. “Of course, playing in Europe and a match like Manchester United, the demands for us are tough,” Emery said. “We were planning on imposing ourselves and dominating. We wanted to forget Wednesday and play with all of our energy. Maybe we needed some refreshed players.”
Emery cast doubt over Ezri Konsa joining up with England for their Nations League double-header against Greece and Finland after the Villa defender was forced off 12 minutes into the match with an apparent hamstring injury. “I don’t know if it’s a big or small injury,” the Villa manager said. “Hopefully he can rest during the international break. We can try to recover our energy.”
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On Sky Sports, the former United striker Dimitar Berbatov was scathing about his former side’s performance, saying that the players should be “ashamed” that Jonny Evans was named man of the match. “Everybody on the pitch should be ashamed because Evans is man of the match at 36. The criticism [of Ten Hag] will continue to grow, because United need to win to get the points,” said Berbatov. “They are 14th in the table, which is unbelievable. The only thing to correct it is to get the points, but with the way they’re playing at the moment that’s going to be hard to do.”