Erik ten Hag insists the ‘eyes of the world’ will be on the Manchester derby… as the Man United boss urges his side to continue their progress to ‘catch up’ on local rivals Man City
- Ten Hag believes his Man United side are making progress after a difficult start
- The Red Devils boss has called for more consistency ahead of the derby
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Erik ten Hag has told his Manchester United players that the eyes of the world will be on them in Sunday’s Old Trafford derby.
United face Manchester City for the first time since losing the FA Cup final to their neighbors at Wembley in June, having shared the Premier League win last season. Ten Hag’s team lost 6-3 to City at the Etihad, but came from behind to win 2-1 at Old Trafford.
The United boss acknowledged this derby is bigger than most in world football as he prepared his players for the big occasion.
‘I think it’s a match that’s so big because it’s Manchester, an internal match, but it’s also about world football. All eyes worldwide will be on this match,” said Ten Hag.
‘At the moment they are six points ahead, we are six points behind and we have to catch up. We know that we have to move the team forward, make developments. It has to do with collaboration, the movement around it, that’s what we have to work on.’
Erik ten Hag has called on his side to continue their improvement in the Manchester derby
Man United have won their last three games, but Ten Hag believes his side can be more consistent
United have won their last three games and are off to a terrible start to the season, but have yet to produce consistently good performances.
‘This is a difficult team to beat. They find a way to win, we are going in the right direction,” said Ten Hag. ‘We still have a way to go. I see positive sides, but also negative sides. We’re not consistently in possession at the level we can have, where we show what we can be in the first 20 minutes, like Arsenal away or Bayern Munich.
‘We are quite good in pressure, we have the most ball and center recoveries in the whole Premier League. Our defensive organization and pressing organization, I said before the season how we wanted to play, but we are not taking advantage of our attack. We pay some attention to it and this has to grow, progress, then games become easier.’
