Man United’s Ten Hag denies crisis at club: ‘Not for us’

Erik ten Hag says Manchester United are not a club in crisis this season – despite negative headlines and a string of poor results – after two goals from Scott McTominay secured a 2-1 win at Old Trafford against Chelsea .

United won convincingly despite Marcus Rashford's demotion to the substitutes' bench, and the victory moved the Ten Hag side three points behind reigning champions Manchester City in fourth after a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)

But as Ten Hag dropped Rashford and Anthony Martial following their poor performances in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United, the United manager has dismissed suggestions his club have been in crisis in recent weeks .

“Crisis? Not for us,” Ten Hag said. “We are on a journey, we stay calm and believe in the process. We know what we need to build and we don't get distracted by the criticism around us. I don't care about the noise. When we stay together, we have the right attitude, we have the performance to collect points.

“You see how we won points. We dominated our opponent with possession and that's how we want to play.”

United had 28 shots – nine on target – as they dominated Mauricio Pochettino's side at Old Trafford. And although Cole Palmer's 44th-minute goal canceled out McTominay's first-half opener, the United midfielder restored the home side's lead and sealed victory with a header second half.

“In the end we won, but we could have made life easier,” Ten Hag said. “We could have scored three times in the first 30 minutes.

“We know we don't get satisfied and happy quickly because we always want to do better and fix things. But I'm very happy with the number of chances we created.”

United host Bournemouth at Old Trafford in their next match on Saturday.