‘Stick to the plan’ – Ten Hag interview in full ahead of crunch week

Read the full transcript from Sky Sports’ exclusive interview with under-pressure Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, as he reveals he is “not anxious” over his future and urges his players to “stick to the plan” ahead of crunch games at Porto and Aston Villa.

How would you sum up the last 24 hours? What’s it been like?

It’s like a process as you do always. You play a game and you review it and take the assessments out, you set your conclusions and you take it from there.

How have you processed the Spurs defeat?

It is by watching it back, watching back the video from the game and then see where the problems are, and then find the solutions for the problems.

How many times did you watch it back?

Oh, one time. Sometimes you scroll a little bit back to find more understanding, find a deeper understanding, but only one time.

Then I had seen alongside the pitch as well, so I have my view.

What is your view?

It’s a bad performance and we have problems and I have to address the problems and to give the solutions to the team.

What kind of problems do you feel you have to address?

The most important is always keeping the belief. You stay in the game by keeping the belief. That’s the most important message that we have to give because if you lose your faith you lose everything.

We have to keep going and stick to the plan and move on.

Have the players lost their belief? Confidence is one thing but belief is something different?

For me, belief and confidence, it has to do with each other. You always need to believe. To believe as an individual and believe in your team-mate. Believe in your team and believe in the plan you execute. That is absolutely what you need as a team when you go into a game and during a game. You have to keep this always.

Do you feel the players could take more responsibility in terms of game management?

It’s shared responsibility. That’s my job, I have to make them play. I have to give instructions about how they have to play and when there are problems in the game, I have to teach them how they sort the problems.

Do you make mistakes as well? Do you take responsibility too?

We are there together. When the players have a bad performance then I haven’t done my job great because they didn’t play as I expected them to do. We are there together and we have to fight together to get out of this.

How much time do you think it will take you, the players and the group to get things right?

For a long period, we are in transition at Manchester United. From the moment I came in, we knew we had to change. We had to replace some older players and bring new players in. Our choice was to bring young players in and you know 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, and we win. And I’ve proven in my career that always I will win. The last six years I have eight trophies.

We have to embed the game model, we have to embed a stronger team as we have now and so we have to work on our problems and give the solutions. We have a good potential on players so once it’s embedded we will go and we will drive, and I’m sure we will achieve the targets we have set for this season.

What are those targets?

That is always winning trophies and finishing as high as possible of course in the league because that is definitely a very important purpose for us.

How big are the problems to solve?

Nothing is easy, but this is nothing for me to panic about because I experience it so often with my teams during seasons, that you are facing those problems.

We can sort them out, this team can sort this out and when it’s in the individual area we can sort those problems out.

Management is temporary isn’t it, but it’s just how long that period of time is?

We are going to make a success from the season.

What have the club’s ownership and leadership group been saying to you?

We’re talking continually. We are talking about how we can improve the process.

Fans would demand that process to be improved quickly?

We are all very impatient and our fans are and that is what they are entitled to. But we are definitely impatient as well and we want to win every game and when we are losing everyone is disappointed, everyone is frustrated. It’s also our fuel to get better.

How impatient are you?

Very impatient. I hate losing of course. I have to give the solutions to my team, so I have to focus on what has to be better.

What was the team like on Monday?

They are very disappointed and that’s normal. But I know them, they are resilient people and they will bounce back.

Did you have meetings with them? Has there been a meeting among you all?

We do this after every game. We sit together, we give our opinion and there is a two-way communication from the manager, coaches to the players and back. We are on one page and we make sure we are one page and we stay on one page.

So you truly believe you are all aligned together? Every one of you?

Yes, and we have seen this in this group there is a good spirit. Even after all the setbacks from yesterday [Sunday], they kept going. You see that spirit in this team and you see this is a team they want to fight for each other.

Also you can see the fans and they are disappointed but they kept with us and they kept supporting us from the first moment until the last moment. We are in it together.

There’s always noise at Man Utd and you are the voice and face that everybody sees. How do you deal with that?

When you are managing Manchester United you know everyone will judge you much more than any other club. You have to deal with criticism and don’t make a big deal from it and focus on the things where you are appointed to. That is managing the team, getting the best out of the team.

Don’t focus on negative opinions on you as a person. That doesn’t help the process and I’m here to win so I have to show my team that I give the direction and keep going in that direction we want to go.

Can you hear what’s being said? And do you listen to it?

Of course I’m aware of it. Sometimes there are very good recommendations and I take them on board. But most of the times I don’t read because that’s too much. When you are managing this club it has too many opinions. I can’t take them all and give my judgment. It’s more important I have to see where my team is, I have to see in which state they are and I have again.

I’ve said it now several times I have to give solutions for the problems we are facing in this moment

Those solutions, do you process those on your own after a day like Sunday?

After every game you have to get yourself away from the game for a period. I am also a person. I also have my emotions because I have to review the game clinically and get away from the emotions.

Once I get some time away from the last game, I go in it and I review it and I set the right conclusions.

If it doesn’t go right in these next two games, do you still feel you will be here?

I’m not thinking about it, I’m not anxious. We are together.

We created a togetherness in the summer with the ownership and the leadership.

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

They also know in the end when we are May, in all my last six seasons, always there were trophies. That is what we are also now aiming for.

Watch Aston Villa vs Manchester United on Sky Sports on Sunday from 1pm; kick-off 2pm.

Source : Sky Sports