Ten Hag seems pleased as Punch with his side’s progress after the turbulence has settled and is convinced they are not in a crisis mode progress after their 2-1 Chelsea win.
Erik ten Hag is apparently humming a different tune now that they had managed to navigate themselves out of the quandary they were in earlier and insisted he was ‘ignoring the noise’ amid reports of dressing room dissent towards his management style from senior Manchester United players after they secured a much-needed 2-1 win against Chelsea.
A sumptuous brace from Scott McTominay’s was sufficient to secure the three points on a night when Ten Hag abandoned the duo of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial after their pathetic display in last Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.
The Old Trafford match-up stacked a pair of Premier League giants against each other, with both clubs going through growing pains as they seek to become contenders again.
Despite reports of player unhappiness in the United dressing room with Ten Hag, the beleaguered Dutchman’s side came through with a feisty 2-1 victory, with McTominay being the hero.
“I don’t care about the noise. They are used to it. It was the same at Ajax but in a smaller country so less people,” said Ten Hag wheb questions were put to him about the rumours of unrest in his camp.
“When you are not on top form on the day, you get beaten. You need to be at your best. When you are not, you get killed. We know that and we need the right attitude every game.
“I can always have complaints but we are pleased with the result and the performance. We deserved this. We wanted to send this message to crowd but this is also our style. In the first 30 minutes we did it perfectly on the pitch.”
The result was a hammer blow to Pochettino’s Chelsea, who struggled to find their best form and missed a host of first half chances at Old Trafford.
“We didn’t start the match well and maybe that can be expected because of the last couple of days,” said Pochettino.
“We couldn’t match the energy of Manchester United but they had an extra day to recover. We missed energy and the possibility to change the game. That was a problem and it happens sometimes. That is football.
“Full credit to Manchester United. They deserved the victory and were better than us but we were close. We need to be focussing on the next game.
“We need to be more clinical in the places like Old Trafford. We conceded the second goal and it was more difficult.
“We need to make better decisions. I think they pushed us to play in our half in the first half but then I think we were better and played a little bit better. It’s hard with all of the emotion out there.”