Ten Hag: Ratcliffe has ‘common sense’ to keep me

MANCHESTER, England — Erik ten Hag said on Friday that he believes Manchester United‘s new owners have the “common sense” to see that he should be allowed to continue as manager.

Ten Hag has overseen a disappointing second season at Old Trafford leading to speculation that he could be sacked by new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe this summer.

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The Dutch coach, though, insists Ratcliffe and the club’s new football leadership team understand the difficulties he has faced — in particular a crippling injury list — and recognise that it has been an achievement to reach a second successive FA Cup final.

“I think they have common sense,” Ten Hag told a news conference when asked whether he fears the sack this summer.

“They see when you have 32 different backlines, when you lose eight centre-backs, when we see we don’t have a left full-back, they know that will have a negative impact on results.

“But we are still fighting and it’s a huge FA Cup final. We are still there. It can be a highlight of the season, but we know why we are underperforming. I am a realistic person. I see this, I analyse, and no team will perform with these injuries.”

Ten Hag still has a year left on his contract, but so far Ratcliffe has refused to confirm whether the 54-year-old will be in charge at the start of next season.

Asked whether it would help to receive public backing from Ratcliffe, Ten Hag said: “This question, you have to make to the owners, not to me.

“I don’t care if they do or they don’t, I’m working on improving and developing my team, that is my job here.”

Ten Hag is hopeful the injury problems will ease before Arsenal‘s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday. Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay and Marcus Rashford have returned to training and could feature, but Mason Mount is unavailable after picking up another problem.

Lisandro Martínez, Luke Shaw, Victor Lindelöf and Raphaël Varane are still absent but there is hope they could return before the FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 25.

“[Martinez] is desperate to play,” Ten Hag said.

“He misses so much, the team misses him, he wants to play but he had three injuries across the season and now he is almost there, injury free. Now he has to get back into team training.

“I will never gamble with a player, never. It’s about them, their futures. The safety, health of the player is high level.”