Yahoo Sports Erik ten Hag walks out of Manchester United press conference after refusing question on worst season
A frustrated Erik ten Hag refused to answer a question about Manchester United potentially suffering their worst finish in Premier League history this term before walking out of his post-match press conference at Bournemouth.
The under-fire Dutch boss was addressing the media after a contentious and unconvincing 2-2 draw at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday evening, in which his side needed two equalisers from captain Bruno Fernandes to rescue a point as they also survived a last-gasp penalty award in second-half stoppage time following Willy Kambwala’s clumsy challenge on Ryan Christie, which VAR deemed to have taken place outside the box and overturned.
It was another hugely underwhelming performance from United - who gave up another 20 shots and are averaging more attempts conceded than any other team in the Premier League this season - that will have done nothing to quell ongoing speculation that Ten Hag could be facing an uncertain future at Old Trafford, where football operations are now under the control of new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The listless Red Devils could have conceded plenty more goals on the south coast and ended the day in seventh place in the top-flight table, now behind Newcastle on goal difference after Eddie Howe’s side thrashed Champions League-chasing Tottenham 4-0 in the lunchtime kick-off at St James’ Park to jump into the top six.
United have now won none of their last four league games in a setback to their hopes of qualifying for European football next season, while they will drop as low as eighth on Sunday if West Ham beat Fulham at the London Stadium.
The record 20-time English top-flight champions have finished below sixth place just once so far in the Premier League era, slumping to seventh and their lowest position since 1990 during a dismal 2013/14 campaign in which Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor David Moyes was sacked in April and replaced by Ryan Giggs on an interim basis.
Asked if he thought United were going to be above that this season following another lacklustre performance at Bournemouth, a frustrated Ten Hag interjected, rose to his feet and said: "I don't comment on that question.
"That is not important for this moment."
Ten Hag then proceeded to walk out of the press conference at the Vitality Stadium, which you can watch at the end of the video at the top of this page.
