Erik ten Hag admits he’s willing to give his Manchester United players a boot up the backside to help get rid of their infuriating inconsistency.
The Dutchman has a reputation for being a disciplinarian with £73million winger Jadon Sancho banished from the first-team squad for publicly questioning the manager.
Asked how he tries to motivate the returning Marcus Rashford, whose form has dipped this season, Ten Hag said forthrightly: ‘I think almost any player, sometimes it’s arm around the shoulder, sometimes a kick in the ass.
‘It makes a difference in management which approach you take, the kick or the arm.
‘There have been high highs and low lows. As a team we have to get more consistent. The team have proved their quality in certain games and played good football under high pressure.
Erik ten Hag (R) hinted he may need to employ a firm approach to motivate his Man United side
Their form continues to stutter – such as they suffered a surprising 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth
Marcus Rashford has so far failed to replicate his goalscoring form of last season for example
‘But against Bournemouth (which United lost 3-0), there were turnovers where we lost control in the build-up too easily.’
United have lost seven of their 16 Premier League games this season and finished bottom of their Champions League group after defeat against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, leaving them without any European football this season.
But despite the impression of a huge chasm between them and Liverpool – fuelled by United’s 7-0 defeat at Anfield last season – they have finished above Jurgen Klopp’s side in two of the last three campaigns.
With Sir Jim Ratcliffe about to buy a 25% stake in the club, Dave Brailsford and Ineos representatives visited Old Trafford 10 days ago – but ten Hag said he didn’t meet them.
‘No,’ he confirmed. ‘I can’t say anything about it. There are others in this club who are dealing with the strategic review, so I’m just waiting.
‘I’m focusing on my job, which is performing with the team and the developing the team.’
Ten Hag refused to speculate whether his job could be at stake when they travel to Liverpool
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