‘I Am The Best Manager For Manchester United’ – Says Erik Ten Hag

Erik Ten Hag took responsibility for Manchester United’s poor performance in a 4-0 thrashing against Crystal Palace on Monday but maintains that he is the right person to lead the club to better results.

Crystal Palace made history by securing their first-ever league double(beating them home and away) over United in impressive fashion. Michael Olise scored twice, while Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also found the back of the net for the in-form Eagles.

The defeat left Ten Hag’s team in eighth place, putting them in danger of their lowest-ever Premier League finish and potentially missing out on European competition next season.

The uncertainty surrounds Erik Ten Hag’s future as structural changes continue at Old Trafford following British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a minority stake and assumption of sporting control earlier this year.

“It’s clear and it’s obvious this is under-performing,” said Ten Hag. “We didn’t act how we want to do it and this is by far not good enough.”

“As Man Utd, we should perform better,” Ten Hag said to BBC Match of the Day. “The available players should do better. It’s a deserved defeat. The performance wasn’t what we expected. We have to focus on the team performance. This was not right. We have to put it right on Sunday. We have to learn from this game and improve.”

“You have to stick together. You have to take responsibility. The fans gave us such tremendous support.” He stated.

Captain Bruno Fernandes missed a club game due to injury for the first time in his career, with England internationals Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire also absent. The center-back duo of Casemiro and Jonny Evans struggled to contain Palace’s speed and creativity.

“Absolutely,” added Ten Hag on whether he believes he is the right man to lead United forward. “If we have the right players available we have a good squad but we miss almost the whole back-line and then we have problems.”

He continued, “I will keep fighting and I prepared the team in the best way I could. It was not good enough, by far not good enough, so I have to take the responsibility for that but I will find the energy and I will prepare them for Sunday.”

Worse could be to come for Ten Hag when title-chasing Arsenal visit Old Trafford this weekend.

Manchester United have never failed to finish in the top seven in the Premier League era and must do so or beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final to qualify for Europe.

However, the humiliating outcome at Selhurst Park is not uncommon during Ten Hag’s reign. In his first season in charge, United suffered defeats of 4-0 against Brentford, 7-0 to Liverpool, and 6-3 away to Manchester City.

This season, they have conceded a total of 81 goals in all competitions, marking the club’s highest number since the 1976-77 season.