No Need for Erik ten Hag to 'Panic' Despite Increasing Pressure as Manchester United Manager

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Oporto - Erik ten Hag remained calm and collected despite facing increased scrutiny as Manchester United manager in the midst of a challenging start to the 2024-25 season. The Dutch coach dismissed the need for panic, maintaining confidence in his ability to turn things around for the team.

The record 20-time English champions are off to their joint-worst start in the English Premier League era, collecting just seven points from six games while scoring a mere five goals.

United also began their European campaign in worrying fashion, drawing 1-1 at Old Trafford last week with ten Hag’s former club FC Twente, a result midfielder Christian Eriksen said “feels like a loss”.

It extended United’s poor run in Europe to one win in nine games after last season’s disastrous Champions League display. They have a chance to improve that record when they take on Porto at the Estadio do Dragao in their second Europa League outing on Oct 3.

Ten Hag again pleaded for more time to turn the club’s fortunes around after the 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Sept 29, but the Dutchman admitted his team were far below the standards expected.

In an interview with on Oct 2, the Dutchman said: “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.

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

“The most important is always keeping the belief. You stay in the game by keeping the belief. If you lose your faith, you lose everything. We have to keep going and stick to the plan and move on.”

Ten Hag said United have been in transition since his 2022 arrival in Manchester but maintained that the team had “good potential”.

He said: “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, we win. 

“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.”

He elaborated that those targets are “always winning trophies and finishing as high as possible” in the Premier League.

Ten Hag received a boost on Oct 1 as captain Bruno Fernandes escaped a three-match suspension after his red card against Tottenham was overturned.

The Portugal midfielder was sent off for a high tackle on James Maddison. United appealed against the decision and the English Football Association has upheld a claim of wrongful dismissal.

Fernandes said of Porto: “They are a side that always does really well in Europe. They are a team that have a great spirit, (are) improving a lot in the last few games, even if they lost the last game in the Europa League (3-2 to Bodo/Glimt).”

The team that ignited the latest round of turmoil at United are also in action on Oct 3 in the Europa League, with Spurs away to Hungarian side Ferencvaros. Tottenham are hoping to build on their 3-0 win over Qarabag in the previous round.