Erik ten Hag has pledged that Manchester United will harness their recent “madness” as motivation for two crucial games against Porto and Aston Villa this week.
Currently sitting 12th in the Premier League, United suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday, marking their second consecutive 3-0 loss at home.
Following this latest setback, speculation surrounding Ten Hag’s future has intensified.
However, the club’s leadership is backing the Dutchman as they approach this week’s fixtures ahead of the October international break.
“As always, when we are not winning, we are very disappointed and we are also mad, mad with ourselves and especially when you lose a game like Sunday,” Ten Hag said.
“Also, after all when you had to play such a long time with ten players (after Bruno Fernandes was sent off).
“And after the red card is overturned, that gives frustration because such a long time to play with ten is of course never in your advantage and had a real impact on the game but you have to deal with it.
“We are mad and from the madness we have to get motivation and go onto the next game.”
Erik ten Hag is now in his third year as manager of Manchester United, yet he continues to describe the club as being in a state of “transition.”
This comes despite the substantial investment of £625.43 million on new signings over three summer transfer windows.
During this time, nearly every player in Ten Hag’s squad has either signed a contract or made their debut under his management.
However, he often reflects on his initial summer in charge back in 2022.
Notably, several high-profile players, including Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Juan Mata, and Nemanja Matic, were released by the club two years ago.
“Because of course, the first season when I came in we had to replace six or seven older players, like Mata, Matic, Pogba, Lingard, so we started a process,” Ten Hag explained.
“But also this summer, we still had to replace some other players.
“We replaced them with many young players, like Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.
“They need time to get used to the standards of the Premier League, the standards of a club as United, especially, we have to fit them in our game model and in the standards of the league they are playing in.”
On his relationship with Technical director Jason Wilcox, Erik Ten Hag added: “We talk every day.
“We are on a common journey, we made that agreement in the summer.
“We had the discussion, we had the review, we made our decisions, we refreshed and reset the staff and I appointed my assistants, I appointed the staff, it was a common process but I did this.
“We refreshed the squad as well, we chose to especially contract young players with typical abilities, abilities we know that are high potential really for the future as well because this club wants to be back on top.
“There’s a project, a long-term project and we set a target to be back over several years to be champions and the highest Champions League and it is a long-term journey. We went in that boat and we are on the same page in the summer.
“We will keep going in that process, we will talk every day, we will evaluate, review the process, where it is necessary we will make our decisions.”
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