Manchester United kept a clean sheet to win their second-straight Premier League game over the weekend and the situation has given Erik ten Hag hope for the future.
The Red Devils followed up a gritty 4 – 3 away win against Wolverhampton Wanderers last Thursday with a commanding 3 – 0 win against West Ham United at Old Trafford.
The performance pleased the former AFC Ajax manager. He expressed his pleasure at his side’s response to criticisms, praised their mentality in the face of their struggles and declared that the club has a bright future.
“As I said before, if we didn’t build on Thursday; if we didn’t win today, [that game] would have, therefore, meant nothing,” the 54-year-ol tactician said. “That was our challenge before, so I must compliment them on that with the way we played.
“Our threat was great overall and our frontline stepped up and you see the speed, tempo, intuition, creation, they can step up and they can score the goals. If we are in it all together, it is really difficult to defend against this.
“People must recognise the position we are in, we are Manchester United and we are building a team. We are getting players back, and that will now help us definitely, but are building a team. We signed young players and we are giving young players opportunities, like Rasmus Hojlund, Garnacho, Mainoo, this is the process that goes with ups and downs.
“We must recognise that and the experienced players [Raphael] Varane, [Harry] Maguire, [Luke] Shaw they will help them to get over the line.”
The game showed exactly what ten Hag has been trying to build at United and fans have become optimistic once again. However, the manager has a new worry. They lost Lisandro Martinez to another injury against West Ham, only a few weeks after his return from a long-term spell on the sidelines.
Speaking on the injury, ten Hag said: “I can’t tell the detail but it seems bad.
“We have to wait for the detail and making the right diagnosis in the coming days. We’ll see what is going on. In this moment, we’re very sad about this but, hopefully, it’s not too bad. We can only pray.
“We have to find out in the next days what is the diagnosis. It’s very bad for him and very bad for the team. He’s just returning and is a very important part for us. Last season, when he fell out, I felt our performances dropped a level. We have to avoid that because we have a good squad and centre-backs who can fill in. But he definitely brings spirit to the team, apart from his footballing abilities.
“It’s disappointing for the team and especially for Licha. It’s so frustrating, he worked hard to return now for two games. It looks like he has to sit some games out injured again but let’s stay positive at this moment. Hopefully, it’s not too bad but we have to wait.”
