‘They want to win’: Erik ten Hag defends Glazers’ Manchester United ownership

Erik ten Hag has defended the Glazers by stating that Manchester United’s owners “want to win” before expected protests against the American family’s ownership in the runup to Monday’s visit of Liverpool.

Fan group the 1958 has stated it will stage new action to show the discontent regarding the Glazers 17-year proprietorship, with a march that may involve several hundred and is planned to end at 7.30pm on Monday opposite the club store.

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The manager was asked about this. “I can only say the owners want to win and the fans – we want them behind the club,” said Ten Hag. “I can understand sometimes [the sentiment] but I am not that long in the club to see all the backgrounds. We have to fight together and be unified.”

Ten Hag has overseen two defeats from his first two matches at the club, last Saturday’s 4-0 debacle at Brentford leaving him particularly unhappy. The 52-year-old indicated he expects a reaction against Jürgen Klopp’s side.

“I was definitely not happy,” said the Dutchman. “You can talk about football, you can talk about the plan, philosophy but it starts with the basic stuff, the right attitude, fighting attitude and I didn’t see that from minute one.

“Bring it in every game on the pitch, especially Monday night. It starts with yourself, act as a team, follow the rules and principles and work hard, as hard as you can maximise and if you do that you can get confidence.

“It’s not difficult to motivate this team because my experience that they work really good on the training pitch.” Ten Hag was asked how the past few days have been post-Brentford. “It’s a week as normal as a manager,” he said. “You see a game, you have