Erik ten Hag: “I want to achieve something this season” with Manchester United

Old Trafford roared the loudest that it has in recent years, if maybe ever, after Manchester United completed their scintillating comeback against Manchester City yesterday to be within a point of the current champions.

Derby days have a different atmosphere to your normal run-of-the-mill games, however yesterday, especially the final 15 minutes, Old Trafford was as electric as anyone has seen for the last 10 years, with United fans murmuring that this could be the beginning of a title charge.

Going into the match hopes were high as Manchester United are currently one of the top-form teams in Europe, let alone England, and their neighbours headed into the contest with their egos bruised after crashing out of the EFL Cup midweek against Southampton.

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The 2-1 victory means that Erik ten Hag‘s men are still unbeaten since the resumption of football after the World Cup, and due to this formidable form, you can’t blame fans for aiming high.

Erik ten Hag isn’t aiming for the big prize of the Premier League just yet but reassured fans that trophies will soon arrive, saying in his press conference after the game:

“I think we can’t talk about titles in January, we are not even halfway and there is a lot to come, I think, a lot of games but in our game as well, there is a lot to work on.

“We can achieve something in this season, I’m convinced about that but there is still a long way to go about to restore Manchester United back to where they belong. The project is not only this season.

“But, of course, I want to achieve something this season and approach it game by game.”

Ever the tactical perfectionist, Ten Hag still sees holes that need to be plugged in United’s game as he emphasised how errors can lead to the team conceding and how it is important to take it one game at a time:

“I think that’s the right conclusion,” the Dutchman said in relation to taking every game as it comes. “It’s a step forward and the belief is back. We are in a good direction but there is still a lot to come. You’ve seen today that City are the best playing team in this league, with Arsenal – they are good as well, and we have to work out of possession, if we want to get a result.

“There has to be really good defending, which is what they did, but they still have the quality split moments you’ve seen today. One mistake and they score.”

Erik ten Hag plans to leave the title dreaming to the fans as he believes that there is still a lot of progress to be made, Manchester City’s goal seemed to bug him:

“Fans may dream, but we are not. We have to keep our feet on the ground and face our game that we still have lots to improve. It can’t happen after half-time that we lose so much control in the game.

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“Getting down, it is unnecessary. We must follow the right rules and we must step up from the back like we did in the early moments and learn how we control such moments. This is also top football and the small details have a big impact and we have to keep working on that and improving on that.”

Like the fans, the manager is happy with the way things are heading but he isn’t content constantly striving to be better:

“I think it’s a process, we are making progress but there is still a long way to go. We are in the right direction and we are happy with this result, it’s quite obvious, but also we need to see with our eyes that we invest a lot if we want to be successful.

“We have to improve much more.”

Ten Hag’s hunger and desire for winning have clearly been implemented back into the dressing room as players are playing as a team and not as a bunch of individuals, willing to do anything to get the 3 points.

And who knows what May might bring, title number 21?