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 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.
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.
