Erik ten Hag reveals breakdown in communication with Manchester United before Ibiza summit

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has spoken out on the uncertainty he faced during the club’s two and a half week end-of-season audit following the FA Cup final victory.

The Dutchman was widely tipped to lose his job after a disastrous eighth-place finish in the league but an unlikely Wembley victory over rivals Manchester City significantly lifted the mood around Old Trafford.

Ten Hag promptly went on holiday after the match and was told in a meeting in Ibiza that he was considered the best man to lead the new Ineos project on the pitch.

In an interview with AD Sportwereld (via The Telegraph) he claimed, “Of course that is a strange state of affairs. But it’s not like I panicked. It’s a decision that was out of my hands.”

He also revealed that “the communication did fall away” with the club after the cup final but he was eventually reassured in the now infamous “challenging” Ibiza meeting that he was “the best manager” for the task ahead so he continued on as coach.

The former Ajax manager then opened up on the confidence he had in his team to pull off a shock victory while the rest of the footballing world openly doubted their prospects.

“I firmly believed we could win that final. The most important thing was to convey that belief to my team. I had to prevent the whole environment from becoming negative beforehand. And that negativity creeping into the players.”

Ten Hag was then asked to comment on why his side had so much trouble last year as they crashed out of Europe before Christmas and also recorded their worst-ever Premier League finish.

He once again pointed the finger squarely at the insane levels of injuries the club suffered last term but deflected any blame from him or his staff.

“But there were several crucial things I had no influence on, like the enormous number of injuries. I know the blame was also directed at me in that respect, but that’s not how it works.

“It had nothing to do with the intensity of my training because here you train and play every three days. That started in my first season.”

The 54-year-old then looked to the future and perhaps gave a hint to what he expects Ineos to deliver in this summer window.

He pointed out the success he has brought to the club claiming, “When we started here, United hadn’t won a trophy for six years, and that wasn’t because they didn’t have good managers. It does say something about the composition and quality of the squad.”

The United manager then stated that there is still work to be done to develop the squad and claimed his side were at a disadvantage as compared to his rivals due to the thin nature of the first team group.

“We’re still in that process. If you compare our squad to other top clubs in the Premier League, we are certainly still a lot thinner in terms of depth. That’s exactly why we had such a hard time dealing with those injuries.”

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