Ten Hag focused on future with Man United: ‘I was never distracted from the mission’

LOS ANGELES — Erik ten Hag has had an eventful summer. There was a point at which it looked like he might not get the chance to stay on as Manchester United manager as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS conducted their review of a disappointing season in the Premier League and Champions League, albeit one which ended with a remarkable FA Cup final victory over rival Manchester City.

But having decided Ten Hag should stay, the Dutchman has had his contract extended by a year and overseen a revamp of his coaching staff, including bringing back former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

There’s still some uncertainty among fans about how long he’ll stay, but as he prepares for the new season on the club’s summer tour of the U.S., the Dutchman sat down for an extensive interview with English-language media — including ESPN — to talk about the wait after the cup final, the new owners, injuries, transfer business and how Marcus Rashford gets back to his best.

ESPN: You’ve been in the U.S. for about 10 days, how’s the tour going so far?

Erik ten Hag: Good. It’s a positive tour so far and I think, yeah, it’s a preseason. I think we made some foundations.

When we saw you after winning the FA Cup we weren’t sure whether we’d be sat here with you again?

No?

You didn’t know either so how difficult was that period for you, that period of uncertainty?

I was never distracted from the mission. I came here two years ago and this group of players hadn’t won for six years any trophy. I said we are also in a mission and we are here to win and be building and that we knew before us that it will not come overnight. We have to work very hard and we will have to deal with setbacks during that time. The first season I think was very successful, with two finals. We won one, we lost one — we should have won that one — and we were third. We came far in Europe and we played over 60 matches. Then last season, there were a lot of setbacks, that was clear. But by the end we got rewarded, because we kept believing and we won an amazing trophy and so we have a foundation. I think in the summer, many positives are there with the new leadership group who will help give us a better foundation, a structure, that will help our team. We have some new coaches in which gives us, not a better dynamic, but a different dynamic, innovations, new ideas, a new dynamic, new energy, and I think then we can make progress to get to the next level.

You’ve mentioned that a couple of times, that you came in and the team hadn’t won for six years. Do you think that has maybe been lost a little bit when assessing the job you’ve done so far?

I think it tells something about the abilities from that dressing room. Before me there were also good managers. But at the end of the day, it’s the quality from the players, who form a team that can lead to success. But when the ability in the dressing room is not there, you can’t achieve anything. And, of course, you need a team cohesion, that makes a difference. But when in the base the qualities are not there in the dressing room, it’s impossible to achieve the success, because no manager makes from a worse footballer a good footballer.

Did you think that’s what you found when you came here, that the ability just wasn’t in the dressing room?

It was not at the level required for Manchester United. You can develop players and you can develop, of course, a team, that often goes hand in hand. But the potential must be there, otherwise you can’t, as a manager, as a coaching staff, as a backroom staff, you can’t build this when the potential is not there.

With that in mind, how do you rate this current squad?

I think we caught up and so we see we’re capable of competing with the best teams in England. Then you are trying to compete with the best teams in the world, and there are some teams like Real Madrid of course, a very good team. But the Premier League is a very high level and we are capable of competing with them, which is very good. Our challenge is now to do this more consistently. How we do it has a lot to do with culture, winning culture, to build this. I feel that we built a foundation now, with the new leadership group, with the coaching staff and with new players coming in.

With the changes to the structure and the coaching team everything looks good. But, in terms of trust, how comfortable are you given they were having conversations with other managers in April and May?

I’m very comfortable and also at that time I felt very comfortable because I believe in myself. But of course it will help if there is very good communication and of course it’s helpful when you feel the backing from the leadership group. That helps because then you know where you’re building to, that you do it together. When you are in a very good, very strong bond that gives you confidence, gives you belief. Also the dressing room, they will feel this, they will feel this strong belief that will bed into the dressing room and they bed it into the pitch.

What did you think when INEOS were talking to potential replacements?

What I think is I want to collaborate. So togetherness, because I know when you are together you achieve more success and I am here to win. But we want to win, so I have to feel this and when I feel this, we will win. We have good people. With highly competent people, they will contribute to more success and I don’t think it’s a negative. So regarding your question, I don’t think negatively. ‘If’ this or ‘if’ this. I feel positive and I feel very aligned. They are here, we are building those relationships and, as I said, we have to prove this point during the season and the next coming years, how strong we are.

On the changes to the coaching staff, how much of that was because of what you wanted and how much was it because of what INEOS wanted?

I think it was good to create a new dynamic. We are in a process and when you go in the next step in the process, it’s good to bring new energy and new dynamics and a requirement also from different skills and we review it and we decided to bring in some different profiles.

Does this feel like a fresh start for you now?

So many people advised negatively when I started in this club. And I could have gone into projects with much better conditions, with much better structures but I choose this: Man United. I feel this is my club. And I want to go for this challenge although I knew this is very tough, this is very hard. But you only know when you are in and there are some challenges here. But already, we overcame many obstacles and we have to beat even more but, and I said it also in the spring, I feel we are in the right direction. In the summer I think many positives happened that we can accelerate this process.

Do you feel stronger now in your position than you’ve ever felt?

I felt always strong because I believe in myself. I believe that even in difficult circumstances that I can manage a team in a strong mentality. I believe that I can manage a team in winning positions but of course it will really help when around you there are strong people with great abilities to help you. Then the processes can speed up and you can get to higher levels. So if we can do this together we achieve quicker but also higher levels.

With regard to that, would you have preferred a longer contract because an extra year didn’t feel like massive backing?

No, I wanted this. So I think two years in football is already a long time and in two years we will see what we have built on top of what we have achieved now.

You say you wanted two years, but why do you not want four because it’s more security?

No, I don’t need that. I don’t need that security.

Did you expect to get a new contract or did you always think it would be them triggering the extension?

For me it’s important that we are together and that we are working together and when you work together you are in good moments together but also in bad moments. When it’s being questioned in the surrounding then of course that will flow into a team and that is not helpful in achieving success. For myself I don’t need this because I have security enough in my life and in my career and I have enough belief that I know when I have a team I will achieve success.

When you talk about being together when there are problems, are you confident that if you do have a difficult start to the season or if there are bumps in the road that you will still have that backing?

Yes. I feel that we are building something and that the people around me, we are in the same boat. But of course it’s always a proven point when the case is but what I hope is that we avoid this [a dip in form].

You’re going to need that patience and understanding if you’re going to build a team around young players like Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Leny Yoro?

That’s a fair point. We have to build and we have a group of players who are very talented and we are happy to have those players and I think also they are really Man United players. There are players who have an X-factor but they are young. They already have the experience of how to win a trophy and we have to build on that but with young players it will go with ups and downs and we have to realise that. Everyone has to realise this in this club internally but also you [the media] should realise this externally. It’s normal that it will not only go this way [up] with young people, young players especially. Sometimes they will have a drop off and then it’s about do they have the character to bounce back and to achieve against high levels?

You’ve said you agreed with Ralf Rangnick’s assessment about the club needing “open heart surgery” and you’ve said it will take time. Do you know how many more players you need until you need to feel you can challenge for the title?

What I said, that assessment [from Rangnick] at that time I think was to make. Because we needed to catch up and this club needed to catch up and I think the last two years, we won the trophies and now we have restructured. We are now in a better place. This is the fifth window but we never used the winter window so far. First year we only took loan players, this season we didn’t use it. There you have to also do your deals and use those windows but do strategic deals, strategic deals to go faster in the season or faster in the project. In that time you have to assess if it’s possible and you have to deal with financial rules and maybe you are not able or capable to do those deals but we didn’t use them so far in the winter.

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Do you know how many more windows you’ll need?

I don’t want to talk in numbers. A lot of the time when we are in the winter then you have to assess again the process. Where are we? How is the team performing? What is necessary and what can we do? I think a club like us always have to look for better but in the winter to make big changes that’s also not required. It’s very difficult because you don’t have time to build them in, but strategic or do one or two things because you have a problem as we did two years ago. We loaned Wout Weghorst because we have problems in the striker position and we did that with Marcel Sabitzer because Christian Eriksen had an injury. We had two very good signings who were very helpful to achieve the success for that season.

The reaction to you after the FA Cup final from the fans was overwhelmingly positive, it must have been even quite emotional when you lifted the trophy given that you’d finished eighth in the league?

I feel that especially the fans who attend our home and away games that there is a very strong bond between the team and those fans and that we are really there together and they understand very well the position we are in. If we fight together that is the way to achieve because those fans, they can create an ambience. It’s amazing, and then amazing things can happen. For instance, like the game against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinal, there was a vibe and it’s not so often you feel that vibe. If you can create that more often that is absolutely helpful to get a team into high levels.

That vibe also comes with how you play, is that an important thing for you to keep that connection with the fans by playing attacking football?

I think absolutely we want to play really proactive, aggressive football and I think attacking football, embraced by the fans and share this emotionally with the fans.

One of the players you’ve got back available now is Jadon Sancho [who had been frozen out of the squad and then loaned to Borussia Dortmund last season]. How’s your working relationship with him given what happened last season?

We left this behind us and we said everything about this. We know from each other what the standards are and how we want to work, how we want to collaborate and we need a good team. We just spoke about the standards, the levels, the abilities. When I took over you need good players to construct a good team and he’s definitely a very good player.

Did he actually apologise to you?

I think we said everything about it so we left it behind us and I think in our statement it was everything and it was clear and obvious.

There were some key players who probably didn’t perform to the levels that you would have hoped to them last season; the likes of Marcus Rashford, Antony, Mason Mount. How important is it that those players step up to the plate this season?

First of all, the availability of the players should be better. The players have to take responsibility. We as staff have to take responsibility to do this together. The leadership plays also a role in this to set the right culture and then the players, we have more and a higher rate of player availability because when you have got a squad where you can make choices, you can make selections, that improves your levels. Then you have a better chance and you win football games. Then it’s about going more into a positive than what happened last season, going into a negative. This group of players is then capable of competing with the best teams.

You’ve already suffered some injuries, how are you feeling about already losing Højlund and Yoro?

I’m waiting for this question! But that’s part of football, that’s part of top football especially, that you come into, you go to the edge, every player has to go to the edge and then injuries are not avoidable. But of course, we have to be ready as a club and as a team to cover this and the players are dealing very well with this setback. They are very positive, they are already recovering and they will return.

Do you think it accelerate some recruitment plans possibly, given they are two significant injuries?

No, no. It will not change anything. We have a plan and we stick to the plan.

It won’t change who stays either?

No. We have a plan and we will execute the plan, how we have that in our minds. So we will continue this.

And Tyrell Malacia, how is he?

He is now in a good place, but he is not here [in the U.S.] because I only took players who could play games or be available for team training. He is not that far, but he is now in a progress situation. At a relatively short notice, he can again return into team training and then into team performance in games.

When do you think he might be back?

I think it would be possible in two months.

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How is Rashford after the injury against Real Betis?

He got a knock. I think not too bad. It’s within the 24 hours but I think he will progress quickly from this knock.

He had obviously a very disappointing season last season, do you think you can you get him back to the player he was two years ago?

He has to prove his point. We will set the conditions and he is very capable of doing this. Last season, not last season, but the season before, he scored 30 goals so when he is in the right vibe, then he has such a high potential. When he is really in that mood, then our game model will provide him the conditions to score again 30 or even more goals.

But isn’t it down to him to always be in the mood, that’s his job, right?

He should fight for it, but we are not robots. We are dealing with human beings. And everyone is not always on their best.

Ever since you came in, you were very clear about discipline being one of the key things you wanted to instil in the squad so does it disappoint you that you’re still dealing with things like that?

I think when you want to play in top football nowadays, you need discipline on and off the pitch. It was always important, but it gets more and more important now because it’s the survival of the fittest. You are not a robot, you are not a machine. No one is. You can only deliver the levels of performance when you do the things right. When you don’t do the things right on and off the pitch, then you can’t perform.

The best players deliver season after season, why do you think Rashford hasn’t managed that?

I think it’s a question for Rashy. That’s your assessment, so I don’t know if that’s a really clear pattern. For me he’s now important and so he is capable of being that impactful player. For our team he’s important because goals obviously make a difference. I expect him to be that player in this season.

Casemiro also had a bit of a dip last season and he didn’t play in the FA Cup final, how do you think he will do this season?

You have to make choices, what was needed for that particular game. But he is a very important player. He is a leader and he can make a difference for our team. No one can play every game. It’s impossible.

Do you expect him to stay?

All the players who are there, if they want to play for us and they have the quality, then I hope they keep contributing to our team. We have seen that Casemiro in his career is so successful. In the previous season he was so important to achieve all the success we had there. So when he is on this level, he is a very impactful player for us.

There was some criticism of your tactics last season, particularly the gaps in midfield in some games. Do you think we’ll see tweaks or changes this season?

No, not in particular. We will always be criticised. We are Man United and there is no other club that is criticised like Man United. You will always find in one game where you play a bad part where you find deficits in our game. Last season, when we hadn’t the players available and there were no patterns and fell off, we had to adjust our game model because every week we had to adjust our lineup with different personnel. We had 33 different back fours. What do you think, that the patterns are there? I saw the same things. But I also know and we proved it not one time but on a more consistent basis, we can play very compact and we are capable when we can build a foundation and be very successful. We look at it and analyse it. We are very capable and we showed not only in the game against City. True, we achieved a very high level but also in many other games where we achieved high levels and had a good foundation.

Sir Alex Ferguson came through a tricky start at this club and went on to achieve great things, do you think you could do the same?

We have to live today and build a future but don’t look too far ahead. We have that foundation and I think we are in the right direction. For half an hour now we are discussing it. But we have to do better. We have to make improvements because many clubs around us also improve and they have also the financial conditions. So, in history, probably it was a two-horse race. Now we’re talking about seven or eight clubs capable of developing very strong teams.