Angry, combative and defensive - Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag comes out fighting

As Erik ten Hag pulled up a chair in the Jimmy Murphy Centre at Carrington on Thursday, he smiled out at some all-too-familiar faces. For the third time in as many days, the Manchester United manager was holding a press conference and speaking to the media.

United's recent change to make Friday a day off ahead of Sunday games meant Ten Hag held his media duties to preview this weekend's derby less than 16 hours after he had spoken to journalists at the City Ground after the 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. That late win in the FA Cup eased some of the pressure on Ten Hag and United officials confirmed the time of his Thursday press conference within minutes of the final whistle sounding.

Had that result gone against the Dutchman then maybe it would have been at 2am rather than 2pm, for the scrutiny and the pressure ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby would have been excruciating. Instead, victory in the East Midlands and an FA Cup quarter-final date with Liverpool gave Ten Hag some cheer in what has been a fraught and fractious week, one that began with an Old Trafford defeat to Fulham then a public castigation of Ten Hag's tactics on Sky Sports' flagship Monday Night Football show.

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In his time at Old Trafford, Ten Hag has emerged as someone who ticks a few of the Dutch stereotypes, notably that he can be direct in his communication and also that he rarely accepts criticism if he feels it is misplaced, so maybe he would have always hit back at Jamie Carragher's analysis when he held his first press conference of the week on Tuesday, but it did rather set the tone for