Ten Hag on Manchester United's disappointing defeat to Newcastle
Manchester United boss Erik Ten Hag on their disappointing 1-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Premier League
Transcript
00:00 Eric, the team have been in the top eight away from home in more than two years.
00:06 Why do you think that continues?
00:08 Yeah, so I was waiting for that question.
00:11 So yeah, there are always issues.
00:15 I know it's your job to see that.
00:17 Or we have the away form or we have the home form.
00:21 And now we have this issue.
00:22 Yeah, we also will overcome this issue.
00:24 But this is the truth.
00:27 And today we have to say the credits to Newcastle.
00:30 After a start where we could have scored with Canaccio,
00:34 they were better than us.
00:36 They were more, say, more proactive.
00:40 And we had to go behind, to go back.
00:44 We had to defend.
00:45 We did that.
00:47 But we allowed them one goal.
00:49 And then in the end, we fought back.
00:51 We had two good opportunities.
00:52 But luckily, we couldn't take a point from here.
00:57 The first half you seemed to be unhappy with Anthony Martial.
01:00 He seemed to argue back at you.
01:02 What was the issue with him?
01:05 So it's not about Anthony Martial.
01:08 It's about the team.
01:09 You try to energise the team.
01:11 And you try to get a reaction from the team.
01:13 At this moment, you see we had a tough period.
01:16 And then you're coaching.
01:20 You are a little bit more aggressive.
01:22 And that's normal.
01:25 Eric, I know you've got injury problems.
01:27 But for that first 80 minutes,
01:28 was that an acceptable performance from a Manchester United team?
01:33 No.
01:33 If you lose, you are always unhappy.
01:36 And we talked with the team about the why.
01:41 But then I'm sure this team is resilient.
01:45 And we have to pick this up.
01:46 After City also, we did that.
01:49 This team is to have the experience.
01:51 And we have to get ready for Wednesday.
01:54 The next game.
01:55 And don't stay too long in this game.
01:59 With Marcus, he's clearly out of form at the moment.
02:02 There's no denying that.
02:03 Is it just a matter of being out of form?
02:06 Is it a psychological issue?
02:07 Does he go a little deeper than that?
02:09 And when you have to have specific words with him about that,
02:12 does it concern you?
02:13 Because he was so high last season.
02:15 And he's so far off that this season.
02:18 Yeah, I know this issue is coming up then.
02:21 And they are.
02:22 And Marcus is investing a lot.
02:26 We support him.
02:27 And he will return to his form.
02:29 It seems like you made steps forward against Everton and Galatasaray.
02:35 Is there a specific reason why it seems like tonight is quite a big setback after you've had two relatively good performances in the last couple of months?
02:43 I will talk with my team about the reasons.
02:47 But we have to do better.
02:51 And as I said, I'm sure they will pick this up.
02:55 I'm sure they are resilient.
02:57 They have the character to do this.
02:59 You say you're going to talk to your team.
03:04 Are you just hoping that they get better?
03:07 Or do you believe that they will get better?
03:09 No, I'm not hoping.
03:14 I'm sure.
03:15 And we have seen good performances in the week against Everton, against Galatasaray.
03:21 And you always want that you play every game the perfect game.
03:27 But you have so many games in a short period.
03:32 You can have also a less good performance.
03:37 Now we have to pick this up.
03:39 Is it the same with Marcus as well?
03:42 People are watching him and he just doesn't seem like he's in a fight.
03:47 I repeat myself, but he works hard.
03:54 And he's investing a lot.
03:56 He will get back.
03:59 He will recover.
04:00 And he gets all our support.
04:04 Eric, you mentioned that Marcus is investing a lot and working hard in that first half.
04:10 Especially on three or four occasions when he wasn't tracking back.
04:13 He was 60 yards behind the ball.
04:16 Is that not frustrating as a manager when you're not tracking back?
04:20 I don't go into any fitting performances.
04:24 Last question.
04:25 Hi Eric.
04:26 Tonight you had two Sunday night conventions.
04:29 Van Dijk had a defeat tonight.
04:32 But on the left, he has the lead away.
04:35 What's the point to make this decision?
04:38 Because it was tactical.
04:39 We wanted to create full backs with a lot of overlaps and underlaps in attacking.
04:47 It didn't go up.
04:49 But that was the idea.
04:51 To have fresh full backs.
04:55 Aaron played one game and not a whole game.
04:59 He played in Everton and came home in Istanbul.
05:03 And Luke Shaw is returning from an injury.
05:08 I didn't want him to play as a full back.
05:11 But there was an idea as a centre-half.
05:14 I think the centre-backs did very well.
05:16 Harry and Luke Shaw together.
05:20 But it was clearly the idea to get him in that left-centre-half position.
05:26 To construct an opportunity that Djoko can go high.
05:31 Thank you very much.
05:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]