- United have lost three of their first eight games in a poor start to the league season
- Ten Hag has continued to defend his team, despite the increasing pressure on his role
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Erik ten Hag has bizarrely claimed he is ‘denying’ a recent defeat at Manchester United due to a referee’s decision.
United are having a difficult start to the Premier League season under the Dutchman and are twelfth in the table with just three wins from the first eight games of the season.
They have also suffered three defeats in that time, against Tottenham (3-0), Liverpool (3-0) and Brighton (2-1), while they are yet to win in Europe, meaning they are now on a massive defeat past. year without a win in European competitions.
However, Ten Hag has remained defiant and insists that draws against Porto and Fenerbahce in the Europa League have been solid results, despite his side throwing away leads in both matches.
And now he has explained how he essentially wrote off his team’s 3-0 defeat to Tottenham on September 29, pointing to the red card shown to captain Bruno Fernandes.
Erik ten Hag has bizarrely claimed he is ‘denying’ Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham
The Dutchman faced a 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford in September in his side’s dismal start to the season
Spurs went into turmoil as they won 3-0, playing against ten men for most of the match
“I deny and ignore the game against Spurs because we were still 10 down at 1-0,” he said. ‘Then the red card was overturned, so I completely ignore that match.
‘It’s not a fair assessment for the team to take this into account because we didn’t have the chance to come back.
‘You see that this team is resilient. The team is determined. Brentford, two tough away games in Europe – this team has character and shows fighting spirit and determination to win games.”
United were second for most of the match on 29 September, going 1–0 down to a Brennan Johnson goal in the third minute of the match, before Fernandes was sent off for a foul on James Maddison.
Tottenham then took full control, adding a second and third through Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke respectively, as the pressure continued to mount on Ten Hag in the Red Devils’ worst ever start to a Premier League season.
However, after appealing the call to send Fernandes off, the red card was withdrawn and he was made available for selection for the next match.
A match later he was sent off in the Europa League.
Bruno Fernandes was sent off in the first half of the match – a decision that was later overturned
Ten Hag said he was ‘completely ignoring’ the match because his captain’s red card was overturned
United currently have just one win in their last seven games, which came against Brentford at Old Trafford last week as they recovered from 1-0 down.
They take on West Ham on Sunday as Ten Hag looks to ease the pressure on his role following United’s 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce on Thursday.