An 8th place in the Premier League, 14 defeats in the league, but an FA Cup final to be played this Saturday. This is Manchester United’s very poor record this season. The Mancunian team was disappointing on all fronts and their coach Erik ten Hag never managed to turn things around. The Dutch technician has been under fire for several months now and the English press announces that he will not survive the summer. The former Ajax coach, much criticized by supporters for the level of play of the Red Devils and his communication, is in the middle of a storm a few hours before the FA Cup final against Manchester City. But that did not at all prevent him from granting a very long interview to the media International Voetbal.
Erik ten Hag castigates his detractors
In this interview, ten Hag emptied his bag and took out the sulphate. He also took the opportunity to share confidences about his future. “Let’s be clear. The season was bad. It was shit. But despite everything, we are going to play an FA Cup final. (…) Manchester United last won the championship in 2013, 11 years ago. But they still expect us to win every game and still be at the top. This club is not ready for that. We were supposed to start building something and we took the first steps last year, but then you find out how big this club is and that no one is ever satisfied. Inside the club people were happy, but outside the club there was noise saying that I had only won the Carabao Cup, that I had lost the FA Cup final and that I had become 3rd. Well, then you have no sense of reality. Other clubs had a much better team. he first said before continuing.
“The pundits in England want to score, they want to show they are worth their money, and for that Manchester United are an easy prayer. It is the biggest club in England and perhaps the world. The club is loved or hated, there is no in between. So when things go wrong, they all start talking and saying really big words. All this negativity from these so-called experts who don’t have the ability to analyze something with facts, but prefer to attack people to make themselves look better. And these are the same people who congratulated me last year. Last year I was able to walk on water, this year I am the worst manager in the Premier League!”
Manchester United want to continue with him
Then asked about the reasons for this missed season, the 54-year-old tactician justified his team’s performance by too many injuries. “The injuries have been really crazy. Not long ago, I was due to start my 15th different central defender pairing of the season. I had 33 different defensive lines this season! Sofyan Amrabat had to play left back 4 times. We had injuries all over the field. Casemiro has been away for a long time. Rasmus Hojlund, the striker we bought, suffered 3 injuries and I can go on and on. This is the central story of our season. Tyrell Malacia hasn’t played a single minute of football this season. In fact, he didn’t even spend a single moment on the training ground. We signed him as a backup to Luke Shaw. Luke Shaw is the best left-back in the world. This guy is so good. But he suffered a horrible injury early in his career and because of that he will never be able to play 60 games a season. Enough to justify the Mancunian season and convince the leaders to continue with him? This is obviously the trend.
In this interview, Erik ten Hag logically talked about his future. And he seems to be planning well with Manchester United. In addition to having confirmed that INEOS was banking on him for next season, therefore denying the rumors of departure, he did not hesitate to make requests for the summer transfer window. “INEOS is going to change things at the club and some projects have already started. Carrington will be completely destroyed, a new training ground will come. They said they wanted to change everything and they wanted to rebuild Manchester United with me. That’s what they told me directly. (…) Next season? We need to recruit an additional striker this summer. And if we can bring in another central midfielder and a replacement for Varane, things are looking good again. If the team stays in good shape, we can try to aim for the top 4 again.” This is clear and which should ignite the English press this weekend. In the meantime, Ten Hag has the opportunity to end its season on a good note with this FA Cup final against Manchester City. See you at 4 p.m.…
