Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 11:24 am• Guy Habets

Erik ten Hag was suddenly able to speak a word of Dutch during the press conference in the run-up to the League Cup match with Aston Villa. Manchester United did not allow journalists to enter the press room on Wednesday, but fans were allowed to ask the Tukker everything. A fan greeted Ten Hag in Dutch and the former Ajax coach could appreciate that.

Representatives of various supporter associations were allowed to sit in the press room of Old Trafford to ask Ten Hag everything about his working method at Manchester United, the future plans and the upcoming game against Aston Villa. A Scandinavian follower of the Mancunians started his question with a ‘good afternoon’ for the manager. “Good afternoon, you are doing that very well!”, Ten Hag replied with a laugh. “You Scandinavians speak Dutch very well!”

The fan eventually wanted to know whether and how the first months at United Ten Hag were like. “When I started, I knew it would be a beautiful and also very difficult process,” said de Tukker. “Manchester United were far from the level necessary to be a top club. You can see in the past five months that sometimes things go well, but also sometimes less well.”

Last Sunday United made a lesser turn against Aston Villa. On a visit to Birmingham, the Ten Hag formation lost 3-1, but four days later there is already a chance for revenge. This time come the Villans visiting Old Trafford as part of the League Cup tournament. “We can’t do anything about that previous game now, but the intention is that we will see a reaction from the team. We have to be there every game and that is also part of this club.”