Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag remains of the opinion that his players need time to grow as a collective unit.
The Reds drew 3-3 with FC Porto on Thursday evening, registering another point on the board in our Europa League journey this season.
Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and Harry Maguire all found the net at the Estadio do Dragao, with United eventually claiming a draw after 90 frantic minutes.
With focus now quickly turning to Sunday's upcoming clash with Aston Villa in the Premier League, Erik spoke to the media in advance of our visit to the Midlands.
Speaking on key issues including patience, discipline and mental fortitude, scroll down to read the best of what the boss had to say when quizzed by journalists.
Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and Harry Maguire all found the net at the Estadio do Dragao, with United eventually claiming a draw after 90 frantic minutes.
With focus now quickly turning to Sunday's upcoming clash with Aston Villa in the Premier League, Erik spoke to the media in advance of our visit to the Midlands.
Speaking on key issues including patience, discipline and mental fortitude, scroll down to read the best of what the boss had to say when quizzed by journalists.
COLLECTIVE EFFORT
“I’m not thinking about such [external] issues because it’s not a topic. We are in there together, the ownership, the leadership team, the staff I appointed, the new staff. We bought again new, young players and we have to integrate [them]. Like [Manuel] Ugarte, the no.6 position was absolutely one of the positions we wanted to sign this season but he needs time to integrate. You know in top football, you don’t get time, you have to perform immediately but that’s not always realistic. He has to get used to our game model, to his team-mates, to the intensity of the Premier League. So it needs time. So we have more positions where we need time. I’m very pleased with the return of Rasmus Hojlund. I think he had a good return but we couldn’t play him in the first two months of the season. Hopefully, he is now fit and he keeps improving in his fitness levels. He also has to be consistently fit this season and that will help us. So there are more areas where we will improve, definitely, and then this team can grow and improve and then we’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”
WE ARE DISCIPLINED
MENTALITY AND FOCUS
“What is a mental issue? So that is a range, a spectrum of topics and you have to address it right. So this team has belief, they don’t give up that. In that range of mentality, they have a strong mentality but, in some other parts, they have to step up. If you want to win trophies, in some areas, we have to improve.”
“The red card was overturned for Bruno [Fernandes] so it was acknowledged it was a mistake on Sunday [against Tottenham]. This was very unlucky [in Porto] and he gave everything to make a goal. He was in the right moment, in the right spot but he came on his blind side. So I wouldn’t address this as indiscipline. The other part, yeah, we have to improve, that is for sure but also, you can say we were very disciplined and for the first 25 minutes in positioning. We created chances, at the right moment, we speeded up the game so it was not just indiscipline. Definitely, we can improve and we have to improve if we want to make it a success. We can only achieve success like the last two seasons, winning trophies, when we improve, so definitely we will work on this.”
MENTALITY AND FOCUS
“What is a mental issue? So that is a range, a spectrum of topics and you have to address it right. So this team has belief, they don’t give up that. In that range of mentality, they have a strong mentality but, in some other parts, they have to step up. If you want to win trophies, in some areas, we have to improve.”
LEFT-BACK ISSUES
“I think they can both play there [Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot] but, for their patterns, I prefer, in this moment, Dalot. But both, of course, [they] are right-backs. There we have had personnel issues already for a long time. We have a personnel issue there [at left-back] and will definitely improve as a team when we get a consistent left-footed left-back. We’re waiting for Luke Shaw to return, for Tyrell Malacia to return. It will definitely help the consistent performance levels.”