Ten Hag: We still have a long way to go

Talking to the media in his press conference prior to Sunday’s Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest, the Dutchman says there is more work to do before his team can be considered a complete side. 

He also discussed having leaders in the line-up, dealing with injuries, and the in-form Anthony Martial who has hit the ground running since returning to action. 

Every word from part two of Erik’s media briefing can be found below… 

Antony Martial played really well last night and, when he’s fit, he’s good enough for Manchester United. Can you trust him long-term to be part of this squad because of his unfortunate injury record and also, as a second point, can he play anywhere across the front: centre-forward, number 10 or in wide positions as well?
“I’ll start with your last question. I think he can but for me, he’s best as a centre-forward but I think he can play in more positions.” 

As for his fitness, in the long term, can he be a proper member of your squad next season?
“Look, it’s difficult to say because the history shows different but I want him to be because he’s a great player. He definitely has the qualities to play top football. When he’s fit, our team plays better.”

Will he be here next season then?
“From my point of view, yeah.” 

With Harry [Maguire] coming back into the team, presumably, he’ll be captain at the weekend, how has the dynamic been between him and Bruno [Fernandes] this season in terms of the captaincy and who’s speaking to players from the leadership point of view? Are you happy with that continuing next season, having almost two captains and one captain only starting 25-30% of the games? Is that okay and did you work that out this season?
“Look, the team needs more leaders. You need a group of leaders. Those are two but we have more, also [Raphael] Varane, also Casemiro, also David De Gea, and also [Lisandro] Martinez has developed really well in that perspective, so we have more. They deal with it through togetherness. So one is on the bench and we accept it as the way it is. They respect each other and they come through with togetherness. I think it works out so far.”

We’ve seen in recent weeks, when you lose key players - Casemiro, [Christian] Eriksen, [Marcus] Rashford, now Varane and Martinez - the negative impact it can have on the team. It goes to show that maybe you need to strengthen the team in the summer but how difficult is that? Do you need a plan A, plan B and plan C?
“You always need that but all clubs have to deal with key players missing but then other players are coming in. Of course, you always want to play your best eleven, especially when you go to the final stages [of competitions] and when they are not available others have to do it. And I think we prove [ourselves] when they are not there. Last week, we were discussing who is going to score the goals. Marcel Sabizter scored two yesterday. We talked a lot about Casemiro. Can the team play without Casemiro? But we proved against Brentford and against Everton that we can also play without Casemiro and win difficult and important games. We have to deal with it and we will do and that is now also the case that when he’s dropping out, always, we have to take over and take responsibility.”

Is the plan going forward complicated by what’s happening off the pitch?
“You want to always have a full squad where you can pick more easily because you can pick with the perspective of tactics and you can pick the team. When players are dropping out, sometimes you have to make compromises.”

We have a saying in this country which is called ‘knocking heads together’ to get people to work in one direction. In the 50 games you’ve been in charge, you’ve done a lot of that. But last night we saw evidence that you need to do it again. Where do you think the team is in terms of the development to become winners this season or in the future? There were some sloppy mistakes made...
“It’s the truth. We have to face that. I can’t say only the negatives about yesterday [Thursday against Sevilla] because we played quite good football for a long time in the game but you also have to manage the game. If you want to win trophies you have to be smart, you have to stick to the plan and not allow an opponent to get back in the game. You can’t heat them up or allow them to put crosses in. You have to be aware that the game is over in 90, 95, 96 minutes. We still have a long way to go, I’m fully aware of it. The team has to know we need leaders in such moments. In many games, I’ve seen it, we have the passion and desire to bring tough games over the line but yesterday we didn’t. I see this affects momentum but the team has to learn from it, definitely. We will give the team that idea and we will give the team our evaluation. We have to talk about that: how we can avoid this and how we have to avoid this in the future.” 

On that, is there a time frame? At what stage do you think the job is complete in convincing them to go in your direction?
“I think they already do. They go in the direction we want. Yesterday, we dropped back and I know the team – we are human beings – we can make mistakes and we have to avoid it. Now, certain players have to step up for the team to control the standards.”