Erik tnn Hag dismisses "fairy tale" talk about his future

Erik ten Hag dismissed "fairy tale" speculation about his future as the intensely-scrutinised Manchester United manager insisted he remains on the same page as the club hierarchy.

The Red Devils have made their worst start to a Premier League season, leaving them 14th and looking for just a third win of the campaign as Brentford arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday.

United's poor results coupled with some alarming performances have intensified pressure on manager Ten Hag, whose future was the subject of widespread talk throughout the international fortnight.

But the Dutchman says he never feared for his position and was upbeat in a press conference he started by congratulating a reporter for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the Manchester United Foundation.

"Also we have to climb a mountain," Ten Hag acknowledged. "But that is top football and sometimes you have to face challenges, sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.

"But I am sure we will make it a success as we did the last two seasons.

"We are in a direction, underneath I see good things. I see good patterns and I see also the good stats that confirm we are in a direction but of course the ranking is not lying.

"We are where we are and that is not good enough."

Asked if he felt the need to seek any assurances from Ineos about his position during the international break, Ten Hag said: "No.

"The only noise is only coming from the media, from you guys - from some of you, let's say this, not all of you - bringing up stories, creating stories, creating fairy tales, making noise, bringing lies because I know we are on one page, this club.

"I told this before the break. Several journalists probably didn't believe me because I see the reports.

"But internal in the