Erik ten Hag appealed with his Manchester United failures to “stick together” and be cool after their terrible season reached a new low with Saturday’s 2-0 loss to West Ham.
Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus scored in the second half to blast Ten Hag’s team away at the London Stadium.
United has only won one of their previous seven games in all competitions, and have lost three of the last four.
For the first time since 1992, they have failed to score in four consecutive matches and have lost at least 13 times in all competitions before Christmas for the first time since 1930.
Despite recent allegations that together’s players have lost trust in Ten Hag owing to his harsh nature, the Dutch coach has asked his team to remain together as the issue worsens.
“In 2023, we won a Cup, reached the FA Cup final, and finished third in the league.” There were highlights, but we were outperforming at the time,” Ten Hag added.
“There are reasons for it; we have a lot of injuries, and the team will be better if the injured players come back.”
“We have to be calm, stick together, stick to the plan, we have to do it together.”
United are now seventh in the Premier League, having previously been eliminated from Europe after placing last in their Champions League group.
They’ve also been knocked out of the League Cup after winning it last season, and Ten Hag faces a winter of dissatisfaction that might cost him his job.
The former Ajax manager confessed that United paid the price for failing to take opportunities, with Alejandro Garnacho in particular culpable.
“I think it was a good 72 minutes in which we didn’t take any chances.” We should have taken the lead, but we didn’t, and then it was all over,” he added.
“He (Alejandro Garnacho) was one on one with the keeper and he could’ve taken it but we didn’t.”
Since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, United’s managers have looked to be tormented by the burden of replicating the Scot’s record.
David Moyes, the current manager of West Ham United, was one of many who attempted and failed to emulate Ferguson’s dynastic rule, lasting less than a season.
So it seemed appropriate that Moyes dealt another blow to Ten Hag’s ambition to restore Old Trafford’s golden days.
Ten Hag said that United’s inability to defend consistently was a factor in their troubles.
“At the moment, we are not at the top, but we saw last week against Liverpool when we were head-to-head.” “We didn’t score, but we had the best chances of the game,” Ten Hag stated.
“We defended very well for 90 minutes there.” That must always be our standard, just like what we accomplished there. That is something you must bring to every game on the field.”