Erik ten Hag: ‘If Man United owners have common sense, they won’t sack me’

Addressing rumours he could be sacked as Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag told reporters in his pre-match press conference: “This question: you have to make to the owners, not to me.

“Once again, you have to make this question – it is your opinion – and you have to make this question to them, not to me.

“I take responsibility for that to speak to you. That is why I am the manager – to give the answers.

“I don’t care if they [owners[ do or they don’t, I’m working on improving and developing my team, that is my job here.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is not expected to sack Ten Hag immediately, with one eye on the FA Cup final at the end of May. However, the INEOS founder has also refused to publicly back Erik, which has raised eyebrows.

Reporters then proceeded to ask Ten Hag if he’s worried about being fired, to which he replied: “No. I think they have common sense.

“They see when you have 32 different backlines, when you lose eight centre backs, when they see we use 13 different partnerships at centre half, when we don’t have a left full back, when we have so many injuries – they know that will have a negative impact on results.

“But still we are fighting and it’s a huge FA Cup final. We are very happy to be there, it can still be a highlight for this season.

“Of course, we are not happy but we know the reasons why we are underperforming in the ranking now and that of course is the injuries.

“I am a realistic person, I see this when I analyse and no team will perform when you have so many injuries in key areas.”