Erik ten Hag got it wrong with Manchester United comments on Mason Greenwood

Talking about the Mason Greenwood case is clearly a difficult subject but in his attempts to sidestep any questions about the Manchester United forward, Erik ten Hag got the balance wrong on Friday.

Ten Hag was always going to face a barrage of questions about Greenwood in his pre-Nottingham Forest press conference, but rather than considering pre-planned answers and coming up with an approach as to what he did want to say and the message he wanted to convey, he opted to say nothing at all.

The broadcast section of his press conference featured four different questions about Greenwood, but Ten Hag's answers all followed a familiar theme, which was essentially, 'I don't want to talk about it'.

"Look, we are not where we want to be with our team, I have a lot of work and a lot of focus on my team, so I focus on the players who are available," he said in response to the very first question.

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"I only have statements about our performance, our squad, where we have to improve because it's clear, we have to improve. I have to put every effort in to get the team to perform."

It was an understandable approach, especially when getting the team to perform is clearly taking up so much of Ten Hag's time at the moment. The public relations disaster that was United's attempt to reintegrate Greenwood and subsequent U-turn wasn't primarily an issue for the manager.

But that doesn't mean Ten Hag is totally absolved of responsibility. It is the fate of most managers to be the most senior employee in clubs to be open to questioning from the media, which often means they receive questions that might be more accurately aimed at those above them.

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