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Erik ten Hag insisted he is not concerned about being sacked after claiming he and the Manchester United owners are still in the same boat together – despite their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.
United had captain Bruno Fernandes sent off as they suffered a second 3-0 loss at home already this season to leave them 12th in the table, with more defeats than wins and a negative goal difference.
United triggered a one-year contract extension to Ten Hag’s deal in the summer but only after they spoke to a number of other managers and left him in limbo for two-and-a-half weeks following their FA Cup final victory.
But the Dutchman is adamant that the new power structure under co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe – including chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth – are on the same page as him as he claimed he was not worried about losing his job.
“I am not thinking about this,” he said. “We all made togetherness in this decision to stay together, as an ownership, a leadership group in the summer. Also we made the decision from a clear review what we have to improve and how we want to construct a squad. But we knew it will take some time with how the window went, some players [came] late in like [Manuel] Ugarte. Also we have to make some improvement in organisation and we have some injuries. We need some time.
“We are all on one page or in one boat together: the ownership, the staff and the players as well. I don’t have that concern.”
Ashworth and Berrada said Ten Hag had their full support before the Old Trafford loss to Liverpool but their form has been mixed since then, including a 1-1 draw against his former club FC Twente in the Europa League.
Ten Hag was critical of his players for allowing a similar goal against Spurs, when Micky van de Ven was allowed to run 70 yards through the United side just as Twente’s Bart van Rooij had.
“It can’t happen twice in four days a defender can dribble through the whole team,” Ten Hag said. “What I saw in the first 30 minutes is below the level of what we can expect from a Manchester United team.”
