Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag responded to questions around his immediate future following the club’s humiliating 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.
Not for the first time this year, Ten Hag’s future at Old Trafford is under the microscope after a poor start to the Premier League campaign that has featured two wins from a possible six.
United stumbled to a point in their Europa League opener with FC Twente on Wednesday, just days after they scraped a point against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
And on a bleak Sunday afternoon in Manchester, they were second best for large parts as goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke handed Spurs a straight-forward three points.
Speaking after the full-time whistle, Ten Hag described his side’s defending as “totally unnecessary” and said they were “not good enough” throughout.
And in his post-match press conference, the Dutchman was asked if the owners might be having second thoughts.
“I’m not thinking about being sacked,” Ten Hag said. “We all made this decision to stay together in the summer, as an ownership group, leadership group.
“Also we made the decision, after a clear review, what we have to improve as an organisation and how to construct a squad.
“All decisions are made in togetherness, also knowing it would take some time. We are all there on one page, one boat, the ownership, the leadership group, the staff and players too.”
He added: “But we knew it would take some time, because of how the (transfer) window went, some players late in like [Manuel] Ugarte, also we have to make some improvement in the organisation.
“We still have to deal with some injuries, also from some impact players.
“I think we will get better there. We need some time. We are all on one page or in one boat together, the ownership, the leadership group, the staff and the players group as well. I don’t have that concern.”
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Back in August, as they prepared to take on Manchester City in the Community Shield, Ten Hag warned United fans to prepare for a slow start to the season.
“I can see this because we didn’t have time together,” he said.
“We have to work on our game model to find the patterns. It was a break, they all played Euros, Copa América so they were in different teams, with different game models and different patterns.
“Now we have to bring this together. It is complicated. I am not the only one who has to deal with this problem but there are also teams with less international players, they can make a proper preseason so they are probably ahead of us.
“We have to deal with this in the coming weeks without dropping points.”