Ten Hag embarrasses himself with a dishonest claim about five rivals during his Man Utd managerial tenure
Erik ten Hag made an incorrect statement that he had defeated every team in the Premier League during his time as the manager of Manchester United. However, there are at least three teams who would dispute this claim.
Despite this, Ten Hag has been extremely successful as the manager of Manchester United, leading the team to third place in the Premier League, the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, and the knockout stage of the Europa League.
He has also won the League Cup, and achieved notable victories over Liverpool and Manchester City.
However, Ten Hag seems to have some confusion about certain results achieved under his leadership.
“We have made good progress but there is still a gap,” he said in his pre-Real Betis press conference. “I couldn’t expect we would make that gap up quickly.
Erik ten Hag believes Arsenal have been fortunate with their lack of injuries and suspensions this season 🗣 pic.twitter.com/0mElfn5Y1Z
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) March 15, 2023
“But we want to win every game, no matter the opponent. All the games you see until now, we try to win every game.
“We’ve beaten all the top teams, we are capable of doing it, but we have to make the next step to be more consistent. But we know we can do it.
You see the competition and I also heard comments from other players and managers that the Premier League was never as difficult as now.
“There are so many competitors. It’s not a two-horse race, it’s a five, six, seven-horse race – you have to be very good if you want to win the league.
“They spend money, they have great managers and players. But we have beaten all the teams in the Premier League.”
The statement about Ten Hag’s confusion regarding certain results will be particularly interesting to the five Premier League teams that Manchester United have not managed to beat under his management.
At the beginning of the season, Manchester United started off poorly with losses to Brighton and Brentford, both of whom they will face again on March 18 and April 5 respectively.
Brighton is currently in seventh place and eight points behind Manchester United with a game in hand, while Brentford is one place and one point further back.
In October, Manchester United managed draws against Newcastle and Chelsea, with the latter being rescued by a late equalizer from Casemiro. These results kept Manchester United in the running for Champions League qualification, and they went on to beat Newcastle in the League Cup final. However, Manchester United have not managed to beat Chelsea in their six encounters since February 2020.
The fifth team that Manchester United has not managed to beat in the Premier League despite Erik ten Hag’s claim of having beaten all teams in the league is Aston Villa.
Aston Villa defeated Manchester United in Unai Emery’s first game as manager, although Manchester United took revenge in the League Cup at Old Trafford four days later.
Therefore, it is clear that Ten Hag has not yet been able to beat Brentford, Brighton, Chelsea, or Aston Villa.
However, it is premature and unfounded to suggest that his resignation is being prepared solely based on this fact, as he has still achieved considerable success with Manchester United.
Ten Hag embarrasses himself with a dishonest claim about five rivals during his Man Utd managerial tenure
