Manchester United have already lost five times at home this term – with Brighton, Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, Manchester City and Newcastle enjoying wins at Old Trafford
Erik ten Hag is feeling the pressure at Manchester United (Image: Sky Sports)
Erik ten Hag says he is strong enough to haul Manchester United out of their crisis and save his job – telling fans: “We will fight back”.
Ten Hag also revealed he is thinking “24/7” about what to do to get United winning again and out of the slump that has put his job on the line. The 53-year-old Dutchman is under increasing pressure after United slumped to eight defeats in their 15 games.
It’s their worst start to a season for 61 years. The Red Devils have lost their last two games 3-0 at home to Manchester City and Newcastle and Ten Hag cannot afford to suffer another defeat at Fulham on Saturday if he wants to avoid the sack.
Ahead of the game, Ten Hag came out fighting and said he has the strength of character to turn United around. “We’ve had two big setbacks, but we will fight back,” he said. “This dressing-room is strong, the staff is strong and the manager is strong to put it right.
“I have a good squad and I’m convinced of the players in this dressing-room. Always, when the team is not playing well, you think about it, how to get it right. I’m not thinking about things away from the team. For now it’s 24/7, thinking about ‘how do I get this right?’.
“We’ve seen last year they can do a lot better, but it’s up to me to let them play better. I have the responsibility to let them play better and I will put every effort in to get this done. Remember the fight we showed against Brentford, the comeback? If there was no fight or spirit or characters in the dressing room, you couldn’t do this.”
The Red Devils have suffered back-to-back 3-0 defeats at Old Trafford ( Image: PA)
Ten Hag said he would not look for excuses for United’s poor start to their second season under him, but did point to his chronic injury list as mitigation. “We have so many changes every game, we can’t line up the same for two or three games in a row and we have to swap,” he said
“Now we are often missing players in the back four and every time we have to adjust, that doesn’t help your routines. Also, we have to adjust the midfield and we’re missing Casemiro, an important player. But we have to win and I don’t want to find excuses if we’re not winning. We still have to win. That’s the demand and I can’t walk away from that.
“We have to win every game. We prepared very good for every game and I am sure the players are ready to execute that plan The players are hard to beat, but at this moment, when you have two such defeats, we didn’t show it. But I am convinced, in the long-term, the players will be hard to beat and they know how to do it.”
Casemiro has been ruled out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. Raphael Varane is back, but Victor Lindelof could miss the game through illness.
