Every word from Erik's press conference: Part two

While he recognised the impressive progress the Villans have made under boss Unai Emery, the Dutchman believes it is up to us to play to our strengths and come away with three points. 

One key component in that, he believes, will be the backing of the Old Trafford faithful. 

Ten Hag explained that point in part two of his pre-match press conference, where he also discussed Marcus Rashford, the transfer market and more ahead of the 14:00 BST kick-off.

You can now read - and watch - every word of that section in his latest media briefing, below… 

It feels like Marcus [Rashford]'s hold-up play, his link-up play, and his work with his back to goal has improved as a striker this season. Do you see him as a striker long term? Or would you rather he was he was on the left? He can do well, but where do you see him?
“Of course, we worked on that. And I think he can do both, and [it] depends on sometimes from the opposition which role he best fits. But what is important for him also is the formation, to bring players around him [into the game], and especially to bring [in] players from the back of him in the formation, and [be in a] position where he can make combinations and make movements, and I think he's doing that very well. I'm happy, and satisfied, with his role. But also when he's playing from the left, he has also a big impact on our games.”

United fans were singing Harry Kane’s name [against Tottenham], about him joining in the summer... would a no.9, in your eyes, give you more options in terms of Marcus and is that a priority?
“Yeah, I think everyone knows it's not a secret and that we’re [looking at] the long term. Over the whole season, we had a shortage of no.9s, because first the drop out of [Cristiano] Ronaldo, then Anthony Martial was often not available, Jadon Sancho was often not available, then you have a shortage of frontline players. So with less players, we have to cover many games. So yeah, definitely we [have a] need in the frontline, we need players who strengthen the squad.”

Is it the hardest position in the transfer market to get a player in that position?
“But you can approach that from many ways. The typical no.9, you can also, as we talked before, Rashford can also play a very good as a no.9. Anthony Marshall is a great no.9. So we have players who can play [there], but definitely we need some offensive players; impact players, quality players, who improve the frontline.” 

Looking ahead to the Aston Villa game, what a job Unai Emery has done. You are facing a very different Aston Villa who are now chasing a European spot… 
“Oh yeah. We met him the first time [in his] first game and it surprised us. We were low [on] energy levels, so we have to avoid that on Sunday. But also he surprised us with the system. But three days after we learned a lot from that game and we bounced back and we had a good win over them. But Sunday will be a tough game, I am totally aware of it. His team has made good progress but it's up to us. If we are ready for the game, we have the right energy levels, we are in the right focus, at Old Trafford, then we have a good chance to win this game because we know that we are very strong.”