Will Erik Ten Hag Be Sacked? Here's Manchester United Manager's Take On Rumours

Erik ten Hag says he does not care about speculation regarding his future as Manchester United manager. (More Football News)

A promising first season saw Carabao Cup glory followed by finishing third in the Premier League and runners-up in the FA Cup, but things have gone off track this term.

United face a fight for Champions League qualification as the campaign enters the final straight, with the stunning 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final extra-time win against rivals Liverpool breathing new life into the team.

A Wembley semi against Coventry is the reward but that result did not stop talk about Ten Hag’s futurꩲe during the international break as ambitious Ineos cons𝓰ider their options.

England boss Gareth Southgate was linked to the United j𓄧ob but said such talk was “completely disrespectful”, although the Dutchman appears unmoved.

“You know w🐭hen you are working at Man United there will always be noise, rumours around the club, the manager, the players, whatever,” Ten Hag said.

“There will always (an) issue – you like it, to ta𒅌lk a꧒bout. Of course we have different interests, but we are not focusing on that.

“We are focusing on the process, we are focusing on the team to pl🧸ay better, to improve the way of play, so I don’t ca🐲re about (it).”

Ten Hag came through intense pressure in 💞the early stages of his time at United.

Having lost to Brighton in💛 his first match after joining from Ajax, the Red Devils went on to suffer a chastening 4-0 away defea🧔t to Brentford.

Ahead of returning to the Gtech Community Stadium for the first time since, Ten Hag s💙aid of the outsid♉e noise: “I was trainer at Ajax. Similar.

“You🍰 get used to it, so we don’t care. Players don’t care, I don’t care. We are together in the boat and we know we have to perform and get the right results.”

Before the recent Liverpool win, one of the only positives in a forgettable season was the development of youngsters like Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo.

The latter was na🅺med man of the match on his full England debut against Belgium on Tuesday, just four months after making his first Premier League start.

Ten Hag had planned Mainoo’s opportunity to come far sooner, only for the midfielder to sustain ankle ligament damage in July’s pre-season friendly against Real Madrid.

“It was the plan, it was the intention,” the Dutchman said. “We thought he was capablღe of adjusting very quickly to high levels, so we had to delay that moment but for him and for us it’s good.

“Later in the s꧟eason he proved that he can contribute highly to our team.

“We are happy we have a player liꦆke him who can really contribute and make us play the way we want to play.”

Ten Hag is hoping 🐼Mainoo is available to face Brentford having report♐ed sick on Thursday.

“(Thursday) he skipped t🥀he training because he was ill,” he said.

“I don’t know (about Brentford) but of course we hope. (Friday) he is there, not fully recovered but we have sꦆtill many hours I would say as we have a kick-off at 8pm.”

Mainoo’s performances have bolstered his chances of making England’s Euro 2024 squa𒐪d but team-mate Marcus Rashford’s position looks more precar💧ious.

“Of course he knows there is a lot of co🌟mpetition in his position,” Ten Hag said.

“And of course he will have a lot of credit because he co✨ntributes so many times fantastically for England and for us.

“Of course, he wants to be there but also he wants to win wꦆith us. He is in a position to win a trophy and he wants to be in the Champions League.

“Absolutely he wants to contrib𝓡ute and he wᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚants to perform.”