Ten Hag confident he retains backing of Man Utd players

Manchester United’s Dutch manager Erik ten Hag gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match-Photo:AFP

Under-fire Erik ten Hag is confident he retains the backing of Manchester United’s players after the club were angered by reports he had lost some of the dressing room.

The Dutchman’s challenging second campaign in charge continued on Saturday when his team fell to a meek 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.

A 10th defeat of the season in all competitions led to some reports that Ten Hag had lost the confidence of up to half of his players, with references to concerns over his style, tactics and signings.

As a result, the club banned four media outlets shortly before Tuesday’s press conference to preview the midweek Premier League clash against Chelsea.

United said the action was taken for not “contacting us first to give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise”, adding they believed it was “an important principle to defend”.

Asked if he believed he still had the requisite buy-in from his players to be successful, Ten Hag said: “Oh yes, I’m sure.

“But you can see, for instance, the comeback against Brentford, the Burnley game, the Fulham game, so every time the team is there, showed great character.

“Great determination, resilient, so yeah, we are together.

“And you can see you can’t play such great football what we did lately if there is no unity.”

Ten Hag downplayed Newcastle as “one bad performance” after the 3-0 league win at Everton and the 3-3 Champions League draw at Galatasaray, and addressed the bans handed out to journalists.

“They should come to us first and not go around our back printing articles,” the United manager said. “That’s not the right thing.

“I think we have another