Erik ten Hag explains key reason why he doesn’t fear Man Utd sacking | Football

While Ten Hag looks set to stay until the end of the season, his long-term future at Old Trafford remains uncertain after a disappointing campaign.

United failed to make it out of the Champions League group stages and their recent 4-0 thrashing by Crystal Palace has dented their hopes of European qualification for next season.

While Ten Hag’s position is set to be reviewed in the coming weeks, the Dutchman said he has no reason to worry and believes that INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe will afford him another season at the helm due to the injury problems that have affected his plans over the last 10 months.

‘No. I think they have common sense,’ Ten Hag said ahead at his pre-match press conference when asked if he feared getting sacked at the end of the season.

‘They see when you have 32 different backlines, when you lose eight centre-backs, when they see we use 13 different partnerships at centre-half, when we don’t have a left full-back, when we have so many injuries.

‘They know that will have a negative impact on results but still we are fighting and it’s a huge FA Cup final.

‘We are very happy to be there, it can still be a highlight for this season. Of course, we are not happy but we know the reasons why we are underperforming in the ranking now and that of course is the injuries.

‘I am a realistic person. I see this when I analyse and no team will perform when you have so many injuries in key areas.’

Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay have returned to training, but there were further injury setbacks for Mason Mount and Luke Shaw.

‘Unfortunately, yesterday, Mason Mount fell out [of contention]. So he will not be available for Sunday,’ Ten Hag said.

‘Luke Shaw had a setback in his process as well but there is still a hope and he will fight to be available for the [FA Cup] final.’

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