Erik ten Hag has welcomed the backing of Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada, but admitted that he still has to meet high expectations at Old Trafford.
After finishing eighth in the Premier League in May, Ten Hag’s side have made a poor start to the new season with two defeats in their opening three games.
United face Southampton at St Mary’s on Saturday lunchtime following back-to-back defeats by Brighton and Liverpool having not lost three in a row in the league since 2015.
Berrada and new sporting director Dan Ashworth publicly backed Ten Hag before the 3-0 defeat by Liverpool a fortnight ago, but the Dutchman knows that results will determine his future.
Erik ten Hag is under pressure following Man United’s shaky start to the new season
Ten Hag has received public backing from the club’s new senior leadership team
‘In football you have to win, you have to deliver, that’s clear,’ he said. ‘It’s good that the new leadership acknowledge this and says this. We are working together to be more successful. We have higher targets than we’ve already achieved.’
Ten Hag also put some of the blame for his team’s worrying form down to the upheaval at Old Trafford since Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority takeover that left the Ineos billionaire in charge of football operations at United.
As well as appointing Berrada and Ashworth, Jason Wilcox was brought in as technical director, and Ten Hag was given two new assistants in Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake.
He added: ‘Nobody can deny in these last eight or nine months a lot has happened to this club: new leadership team, new structure and ownership structure, a huge turnaround I would say.’