Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has issued a defence of his Manchester United counterpart, Erik ten Hag, as the two sides prepare to meet on Sunday at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag and his players will be heading into the match under a little bit of pressure to secure a win after their last two previous matches vs. Crystal Palace and FC Twente respectively ended in disappointing draws.
The Red Devils are currently 11th in the Premier League table and nothing short of a victory is likely to appease fans, who are steadily growing restless with the underwhelming start to the season.
Ahead of the clash, Postecolgou spoke to reporters and heaped praise on Ten Hag, as he insisted the Dutchman has done a tremendous job at Old Trafford since his arrival.
The Australian coach said (via ESPN), “I mean there’s always some manager under pressure.”
“I think there must be a sort of — what do they call one of those spinning boards with all our faces on it and whatever it lands on — he’s the one that cops it for a week or two.”
A claim Ten Hag has repeatedly used to justify United’s inconsistency and lack of a desirable and clear style of play is that the Red Devils have won two trophies in the last two seasons.
Indeed, Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup in his very first year in charge and despite an extremely poor 2023/24, somehow managed to secure the FA Cup after beating Manchester City in the final at Wembley.
However, a section of supporters have found his constant use of this claim annoying, and understandably so as it should not give him a free pass not to address the challenges being faced by the team.
According to Postecoglou, it’s no mean feat winning the competitions Ten Hag has managed. He remarked, “But I think Erik’s in a real tough job. He’s done really well. He keeps mentioning he’s won two trophies and he has, so I don’t think that’s insignificant.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that’s all I have to do, but obviously it’s not all you have to do because when you do that then there’s more, there’s always more. So I think he’s done a great job and like I said, a difficult job and at Old Trafford, it’s tough there.”
“You look at their record irrespective of the managers, it’s still a fairly compelling record there and they’ve got some real quality players. So, we had a really good game there last year. We ended up 2-2 and it was a cracking game and yeah, it’s one we’re going to be ready for.”
Postecoglou revealed that he has an almost full squad of players to choose from with the exception of club skipper Son Heung-Min, who is facing a race against time to be fit and available to him for selection.
“Fair to say the boys are fairly tired, the ones who put in the shift. I think apart from Sonny, everyone’s OK, and I don’t think he’s too bad, he wants to train tomorrow so we will obviously see how he goes at training tomorrow and make a decision from there.”
United vs. Spurs kicks off on Sunday at 16:30 BST.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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