ERIK TEN HAG does not fear the Manchester United axe as he faces a doomsday scenario at Anfield.
SunSport revealed this week that former Chelsea boss Graham Potter is favoured by incoming investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe to replace the Dutchman if results do not pick up.
GETTYErik ten Hag’s long-term future at Manchester United is up in the air[/caption]
PASunSport understands investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe is willing to axe the Dutchman if results don’t improve[/caption]
GETTYFormer Ajax chief Ten Hag insists he isn’t worried about being given the axe[/caption]
And with United depleted by injuries and a suspension for captain Bruno Fernandes, they travel to league leaders Liverpool tomorrow more in hope than expectation.
But asked if he was concerned about his own position, former Ajax boss Ten Hag said: “No, there is no concern because I’m here to win and I have to make the team play better.
“If you play good, even then good is not good enough.
“We’re inconsistent so I have to work on the team playing for longer periods at a higher level.
“At Ajax, you have to win. Here, you definitely have to win — that is always the demand.
“For those demands, you can never run away from that and I don’t.
“That’s our obligation, to win every game, the squad is good enough to put out a team who can win every game.”
The United chief added that he still has the support from the owning Glazer family despite the downturn this season.
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PAFormer Chelsea boss Graham Potter is in contention to replace Erik ten Hag[/caption]
He said: “I feel that and they say that, so that’s fine, that’s OK.
“But I’m focusing on the process, on making this team play better, on making the individuals better, that’s my concern.
“That’s all I’m doing, focusing on the right thing and that is the team.”
United followed up a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth by crashing out of Europe with Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich.
But Ten Hag was again trying to find reasons to be confident they can get a result tomorrow at Anfield, where they were hammered 7-0 last term.
He said: “It was a bad experience. The first half we played very decent and we got hammered just after half-time and then we collapsed.
“We can’t ignore it but we will be confident and I want my players to be confident from the start.”
Ten Hag also said there are benefits to their Euro KO in their top four fight.
He said: “We had so many injuries in the first part of the season and now we have less games.
“The load will be less, that can give players the opportunity to recover.”
As well as suspended Fernandes, United are without the injured Harry Maguire who could miss the next three games with a groin injury.
Victor Lindelof is still out but Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are fit.
GettyErik ten Hag and his Manchester United troops were battered 7-0 a Anfield last year[/caption]