Ten Hag on approaching landmark
Erik ten Hag wants Manchester United to beat Sevilla at Old Trafford in a 'positive and adventurous way' in his 50th match in charge of the club.
Ten Hag will be without Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw, who are both ruled out through injury, against the Rojiblancos.
Midfield duo Casemiro and Christian Eriksen are both available for selection after their recent suspension and injury issues, while Sevilla are looking for respite from their indifferent domestic campaign.
As we bid to ensure a positive result to take to Spain next week, Ten Hag spoke to club media regarding his side's chances against the Andalusian outfit, and below you can read, and watch, everything the boss had to say ahead of the tie...
Matchday Q&A | Ten Hag on Sevilla (H)
Erik discusses United’s attacking options, Shaw’s absence and our European hopes, ahead of Sevilla’s visit…
“He is doing good. [The] progress we are happy with, but he is not ready for tomorrow's game against Sevilla. Hopefully he will return quickly.”
In Marcus's absence, are you confident in the attacking talent we've got to cover that?
“Yes, we have a squad. We have squad depth and we can replace [him]. Of course when players fell away, [we can] bring in other qualities into the team and as a team you have to adjust. Maybe go a little bit different but still we know what we have to do. We have to win games and we want to win in an adventurous and proactive way.”
Despite losing a few players it's great to see Casemiro, Eriksen and Martial fit and firing now?
“That's what I mean, so that's the very good news, that we have players that drop out, other players are then returning and quality players are returning. So yeah we are happy with it and I think those players are full of energy, they are highly motivated because they fell out [of the squad] for certain reasons for a couple of games. So they are returning back and they want to contribute. We are in the right position as a team. We are competing in three competitions, we can win everything in those competitions and we go to the end of the season. This is the situation you want to be in and the players want that as well. They want to be in the team, they want to collect trophies so they will give their best.”
Sevilla haven't had the best of seasons domestically but they have a great record in the competition. They have a good European home record so how big is this match and how good will it be to take a lead to Spain?
“Absolutely and we are fully aware of it: how good they are. They have the record of Europa League winners and if you want to beat them, you have to give your best performance and you have to do it in two legs. First we have to start tomorrow and we need a good result and that result is only a winning result. We are fully aware of that and we have to give our best.”
“Yeah, but I think that is what Manchester United stands for. We want to compete, we want to win every game and that has to be our culture, to win every game and that is what we have done throughout the whole season and that's why now we are where we are now. We are in the situation where we have already collected one cup but we want to get more. We are in the position to do it so we have to compete and we have to battle for it.”