Erik ten Hag pleased with victory in must win game

Burnley Express

Erik ten Hag felt that his side had to win at Turf Moor following a poor run of results for Manchester United.

Transcript

00:00 This was a must win and we knew that.

00:05 And so the team responded on the pitch and you could see the

00:10 togetherness in the dressing room. And it was, I think, a squad performance.

00:14 What do you think about the goal?

00:18 Great goal. And it was massive how we outplayed that.

00:23 Attract over the right, bring the ball back and then brilliant pass, brilliant movement

00:28 and a brilliant finish.

00:31 And an inspired selection of Jonny Evans?

00:34 Yeah, we have problems and in this moment a lot is against us.

00:39 About injuries, decisions and I think we have all seen the examples.

00:45 But then we are very happy that you have a player as Jonny Evans in the squad.

00:50 He comes in, he's calm, he's composed, he's character and he has a good skill set.

00:57 And then you can, even when you have things against you, you can bounce back.

01:05 And then you have the character in the team to do that.

01:08 Was that the case, the thing about Jonny's performance,

01:11 the way he provided a brilliant assist, his presence in the defence,

01:16 it seemed like a lot of the players really enjoyed playing with him and his style of leadership.

01:22 We have seen that in the training. So when he was in the summer, I heard he was in,

01:28 he was to train with the U23s, I said, 'Fletch, come bring him in with the first team.

01:35 Maybe you can help us.' I already saw in the pre-season the shadow,

01:40 the problems in the numbers in the squad and then we decided to sign him

01:47 because I think he can be really contributing in the squad.

01:50 And today you have seen how massive and important he can be.

01:53 How did you think Anton Meshprinke did?

01:56 As well, he brought some energy in the team.

02:00 But I thought the pressing, Rasmus Huyland and Hannibal,

02:05 and togetherness, how they start the moments of the pressing, the timing,

02:09 I was very good in togetherness with Bruno and with Reci, was very good.

02:15 I think we controlled the game in that spell because they started the pressing so well.

02:22 Once they got beaten, there was a recovery. Hannibal did that very good.

02:28 You say it's a turning point, but does it make sense that after their defeat,

02:36 everyone is going to give up?

02:41 I said this is only one win, but what we have seen is, first,

02:50 that there is togetherness and there is unified.

02:57 There is a real good spirit in the dressing room.

03:01 And what we have seen is when you defend with 11 and you do it,

03:07 in the right moment you run and you recognise the recovery triggers,

03:13 then it's very difficult to play against this Man United.

03:18 That made us last season so hard to beat, that made us last season so many clean sheets.

03:23 So it's not a coincidence that today we have a clean sheet.

03:27 Mike, fans were singing Garnaccio's name, he's maybe a bit unlucky not to get games this week,

03:37 given some of your other involvement as well.

03:42 He was in against Munich. I thought we stand, our team was playing very well,

03:53 so I wouldn't change that tonight because this game was a demand to keep that organisation.

04:02 That's why I wouldn't change it. I saw the players were still capable to fit,

04:08 the fitness levels were good, the energy was still there.

04:11 It was only 1-0, so I wouldn't change that because I also know that Burnley could have only one moment.

04:20 In this moment, where everything is against us, we have seen a disallowed goal again.

04:26 I don't want to discuss if it's the right decision or the wrong decision.

04:32 I think it's the right decision, but you see again a moment,

04:36 and there were so many moments in the last weeks, that it was not on our side.

04:41 I wanted to avoid that and keep this team on because they did well.

04:46 Eric, when you say 'must win', what do you mean by that?

04:51 Is that reflective of the pressure you've been feeling in the past few weeks?

04:56 You made it from it, you all.

04:59 We know that at United you have to win every game, even if you play by Munich.

05:06 If not, then the criticism is there. We know that.

05:09 As a player at Man United, you have to recognise that you are here to win football games.

05:18 There were tough opponents we had, but we didn't get the results.

05:24 We had to. Then you know, when you go to this game,

05:29 and it's never easy in the Premier League, there are no easy games,

05:33 then it's a must win.

05:35 Thank you very much.

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