Every word from Erik ten Hag ahead of Man United’s Premier League clash vs Southampton

Erik ten Hag spoke to the media ahead of Manchester United’s fixture in the Premier League against Southampton.

The Reds bounced back from their defeat against Liverpool with a comfortable win in the Europa League against Real Betis. Their attention now turns back to the league where they can extend their lead on the chasing pack for Champions League football next term.

Ten Hag was asked about the reaction of Bruno Fernandes, as well as the latest injury updates and more. Every word can be read below.

Bruno Fernandes looked fired up for the Betis game… “I think he showed big personality by giving this performance and leading the team. I think he has so many skills – he scores with right, left and his head and is creating final passes.”

What do you think he still has to learn? “I’m very pleased with his captaincy because he is giving the team energy. He’s not only giving the best physical output of the whole team, but also he’s pointing players in directions, coaching players and leading the team in tactical perspectives. His emotion is his weapon, but sometimes it is too strong. Yes, of course, I help and support him and give him feedback. Sometimes he has to show more to control emotions and that will help him stay in the rationale of the game instead of the emotion. He has to find the balance, when to be in the rationale of the game, when to use the rationale as a tool and when to use the emotion as a tool, so that’s the next step. When he does it, he will be an even better player.”

What’s the latest injury news on Anthony Martial? “Yeah, I think we had a good plan and it worked, not always good, but yeah, he’s on his way back. He’s back in training, but we will be cautious yeah.”

How about Christian Eriksen, will he play again this season? “I think he will play, definitely. I cannot tell now when the expectation [is to return], but I think his progress in the rehab is OK, it’s going according to plan. So we will definitely see him, but not until after the international break. His main focus right now is to get back as soon as possible, because we need all of the players.”

Did you expect Wout Weghorst to play as much as he has? “He’s capable, physically capable to play a lot of games. He’s a very fit player and recovers very good. Did I expect [him to play so much]? I expected that he’d play a lot but obviously we have an injury with Anthony Martial, so that’s the main reason he’s playing every game from start to almost finish. I think he’s doing well as a striker or a number 10 in the midfield. I think he has intelligence from positions, very good anticipation, linking up and getting in front of the goal. In the defending part, he’s also very good in it. I think as you see he’s often in the right position and then he fails, but he keeps going. He showed great personality in character. He keeps focus, he keeps working, he keeps putting himself in the right positions and finally, he got his reward.”

Are there difficulties to develop the process when you play every three days? “I think games are good in the process and every game we are in a rhythm. We play the game but we have a game plan, we give them feedback and in that feedback, there are often development points in the way of play, so games are a very good tool to develop the way of play. Every game is [like] an exam. Every time again, for as a team and as individuals.”

How difficult will Southampton be and do you need to make sure players are focused? “We have seen two weeks ago that Southampton beat Chelsea away, so we have to play an outstanding performance on Sunday to beat them. At the bottom, it’s very close so they will be front foot, aggressive and do everything they can do to collect points here so we have to be 100% and give the best performance to beat them.”

Is David de Gea’s distributions a problem? “I can’t ignore it [vs Real Betis] but I think we’ve seen many games where he’s done really well. I don’t know what the reason today was, there was a lot of wind, a different ball and he probably had some problems with that. I know he can deal with it and it will be better on Sunday. We are working on that, he is working on that but I think we have seen this season that he is improving and he will keep improving, I’m sure.”

Watch the entire press conference from Ten Hag on Beanyman’s YouTube channel below: