LONDON (Reuters) – Fired Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag believed capturing a trophy would have made this season a success, saying the team was better than their lowly 14th place in the Premier League standings.
Ten Hag was sacked on Monday after the team’s wretched start to the season, but less than 24 hours before he was shown the door he conducted a pre-match press conference in London ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Leicester City — a game he will now have no part in.
“We have to do better, that is the ranking. But I will tell (the players) the ranking is not reflecting our performances and our levels,” the 54-year-old had said on Sunday night. “But at the end of the season we have to get this right.”
That task now falls on interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy, who will be in charge for the first time on Wednesday.
British media reported that Ruben Amorim is the front-runner to replace Ten Hag, with the Old Trafford club said to be in advanced talks with the 39-year-old Sporting manager.
Managers traditionally hold press conferences on the eve of games, but because of the travel and short turnaround between Sunday’s 2-1 away loss to West Ham United and Wednesday’s League Cup tie, Ten Hag was tasked with previewing the Leicester clash.
The quotes and footage from that part of the press conference were not permitted to be printed or broadcast until Tuesday afternoon.
Ten Hag had been asked whether winning a trophy would make the season a success.
“Definitely,” he said. “It is about trophies. There are not so many trophies you can win, if you win a trophy in top football, that is the most important, that is what the fans expect, what we expect – to win a trophy.
“We have had five opportunities and one we missed, that was the Community Shield. There are still four to go.”
United’s shock win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final in June was the one bright spot in a season where they finished a worst-ever eighth in the Premier League and likely bought Ten Hag more time in the job.
But the team have shown no improvement this season.
“It is not easy when you have so many setbacks at the start of the season and to overcome this, but we have to fight back. It will always help when you have a good start because that gives motivation, gives belief, the confidence will grow,” Ten Hag said.
“We are now in the process on the other side where we are disappointed and we have to deal with setbacks and now we have to find the fuel from setbacks and disappointments.”
On questions about squad fitness, Ten Hag revealed that Luke Shaw’s recovery was not going as well as expected.
“The setback, if you want to call it like this, we want also to do it very careful,” the Dutchman said. “When he is now dropping again, we want to be very careful. We know his past, we have to do this right, because we want him to be available, because he will have a big impact on our performances.”
Shaw has yet to feature for United this season after picking up an injury before the season kicked off.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Manchester, England; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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