Erik ten Hag: Man Utd manager to give full support to club’s football leadership despite Liverpool defeat | Football News

Erik ten Hag continues to have the full support of Manchester United’s football leadership, despite sporting director Dan Ashworth and CEO Omar Berrada not being involved in the decision to retain the manager.

The 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at Old Trafford last Sunday, the club’s second defeat in their opening three Premier League games, has again piled the pressure on the Dutchman.

Ten Hag survived an end-of-season review led by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford after United suffered their lowest finish of the Premier League era.

They were also knocked out in the Champions League group stage, but they finished the season with the FA Cup, their second trophy under Ten Hag.

A lengthy process to determine whether the 54-year-old should keep his job included talks with Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, Mauricio Pochettino, Kieran McKenna and Thomas Frank.

However, it was decided not to change and Ten Hag’s contract was extended by one year, although the coaching staff was overhauled.

Despite the outcome of the investigation prior to Ashworth and Berrada joining United, the pair insist that Ten Hag retains the full confidence of the hierarchy.

They regard him as a top manager, who now has the structure and expertise to support him well.

“Concerning the contract, it was a decision that was taken before we arrived,” Berrada explained during a chat at Old Trafford ahead of the Liverpool match.

“But we are very happy with that decision. Erik has our full support and, as Dan said earlier, we have worked very closely together in this transfer window.

“We will continue to work closely with him to help him get the best results from the team.

“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely. We think Erik is the right coach for us and we fully support him.”

Ashworth stressed: “It’s very rare that you have a job as a sporting director and there’s no manager. I can only reiterate that I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik over the last eight weeks.

“I see it as my job to support him in every way possible. Whether that’s operational, with recruitment, with medical matters, with psychology or with the flow on the training field, it’s just to relieve him as much as possible, so that he can fully concentrate on the training field and the tactical plan for the match to make Manchester United successful.”

Jason Wilcox, the technical director, is the member of the football management team who spends the most time with Ten Hag and is charged with helping to design the game model within the club.

However, Jamie Carragher does not believe the structure or recruitment United made last summer will affect the way the manager approaches matches.

In a heated debate with Gary Neville live on Sky Sport“I don’t think anything will change in football,” he said.

“I’ve seen this before at Liverpool. Go back to before Jurgen Klopp came, when there was talk of Brendan Rodgers losing his job after one season. They didn’t know what to do, FSG (Liverpool’s ownership), and they kept him and Rodgers changed his staff.

“You expect something different, but the manager is the most important man. Rodgers was gone in October. Ten Hag said in his interview ‘we will see where we are at the end of the season’.

“I’d be surprised if he’s still there at the end of the season.”

Neville replied: “I think Ten Hag will last until Christmas at least.”