Ten Hag on Man United start: No reason to panic

Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has said his team’s start to the season is no cause for panic despite only winning two of their opening six Premier League games.

Ten Hag, whose contract was extended in the summer despite United’s ownership sounding out potential replacements, is facing growing scrutiny as his team sit 13th in the table after their 3-0 home drubbing by Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.

“We are going to make a success from the season,” Ten Hag said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“Nothing is easy, but this is nothing for me to panic about,” he added. “We can sort [the problems] out, this team can sort this out.”

The Dutch coach maintained that he has no worries over his job security despite the Spurs loss and a similar home reverse against Liverpool provoking reports that his job is on the line in this week’s Europa League contest with Porto and Sunday’s league game with Aston Villa.

“I’m not thinking about it, I’m not anxious,” he said. “We created a togetherness in the summer with the ownership and the leadership.

“We made this agreement, and we were all behind it. We know the strategy [is to bring in] young players in a transition period.

“They also know in May in all my last six seasons there were always trophies and that is what we are aiming for.”

Ten Hag added that he knew United were in a period of transition when he joined, and that he has proven he can win things in his two seasons so far, having lifted the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

“From the moment I came in, we knew we had to change. We had to replace some older players,” he said.

“Our choice was to bring young players in and that takes time to get the messages on board, to get a game model on board and to introduce a new culture. That takes time. In the meantime, you have to win and I think we have proven in the last two years that we win.

“I’ve proven in my career that always I will win. The last six years I have eight trophies.”

United travel to the Estadio de Dragão to face Porto on Thursday.