Erik ten Hag’s position as Manchester United manager is secure for the foreseeable future and is not an issue up for discussion by the club executive.
Despite a dismal run of early-season form featuring six defeats from 10 games, including Tuesday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat by Galatasaray, Ten Hag retains the firm confidence of the hierarchy, who view the Dutchman as the right manager to take the side forward in the long term, the Guardian understands.
Although Ten Hag has never cited injuries as a reason for United’s displays it is acknowledged internally that he has suffered a particularly bad run, at one point being without 16 players. These include Rasmus Højlund, the new £64m striker, arriving with a back problem, and Mason Mount, a £55m summer recruit, sustaining a hamstring injury in the second game of the season.
In the absence of three injured left-backs – Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Sergio Reguilón – Ten Hag has played the midfielder Sofyan Amrabat in the position in the past three matches.
On Saturday Brentford visit for the last Premier League game before the international break. United have nine points from seven matches, leaving them nine points off the top and seven points from fourth place.
The club are investigating how tickets for home sections of Old Trafford were bought by a sizeable number of Galatasaray fans, including in the Stretford End. As is usual, measures were in place to try to prevent away supporters from getting seats in the home areas, including not making sales to anyone with a Turkish address.
Initial findings are that it may have occurred because of ticket touting and the sale of seats via official channels to Galatasaray fans based in the United Kingdom.
