Erik ten Hag makes remarkably confident statement on his Manchester United future
Manchester United were embarrassed at home by Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, falling to a thumping 3-0 defeat on home soil with captain Bruno Fernandes sent off
by David McDonnell · The MirrorErik ten Hag said he does not fear the sack after Manchester United were humiliated at home again with a defeat Gary Neville called “disgusting”.
Skipper Bruno Fernandes was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on James Madisson, with Ten Hag's side imploding to pile further pressure on the United boss. Ten Hag is now the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked, but he said he does not fear losing his job, despite United losing three of their first six games.
“No, I'm not thinking about this,” said Ten Hag. ?We are all on one page or in one boat together - the ownership, the staff, the players as well. So I don’t have that concern [the sack].
“We all made togetherness in this decision to stay together, as an ownership and as a leadership group. In the summer we also made the decision, from a clear review, on what we have to improve and how we want to construct a squad.
“But we knew it would take some time, with how the window went and the fact some players came in late, like Manuel Ugarte. We also have to make some improvement in organisation, we have had some injuries and we need some time.”
Former United skipper Neville did not hold back in his criticism, claiming the way Ten Hag's side played was like “pub football” and claimed there was no effort from the players.
Neville said: “It's been a bad day for Ten Hag, really bad. The pressure is going to get ramped up this week – it's going to be brutal. It's one of the worst performances I've seen under Ten Hag - and that's saying something.
“It was a disgusting performance in effort and quality and there are a lot of questions to answer from that group in the next week. I suspect there were better Sunday league teams this morning than what we've seen from United in the first-half - pub football.”
Fernandes ignored Premier League protocol post-match to front up and insist his challenge on Maddison was not deserving of a red card stating “It was never a red card, that's my view. I agree it's a foul, but it's never a red card.
“If he wants to give me a yellow, because they're going to go on the counter-attack, then I agree. But more than that, no.”
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said: "I thought it was an outstanding performance. We started the game well, scored a great goal and probably should have had two or three. The pressure then overwhelms them and they get the red card. After that I thought we controlled the game well.”
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