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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has insisted that he will still be at the helm next season even as pressure mounts on him.
United suffered their 12th defeat of the Premier League season on Thursday night at the hands of Chelsea in heartbreaking style.
The Red Devils were ahead 3-2 with 99 minutes and 17 seconds gone, before conceding two Cole Palmer goals in the 100th and 101st minutes. It was the latest a side has ever led in a Premier League match and gone on to lose the match.
Even more worrying for United is that it was the second time in less than a week that the club lost a lead in added time following their 1-1 draw against Brentford last weekend at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The defeat was United’s 17th of the season in all competitions, the most since the 1989/90 campaign.
It has been widely suggested that new United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe could look to make a managerial change as he and his associates have been left less than impressed with the work Ten Hag has done this term.
Ratcliffe was personally present at Stamford Bridge and painfully watched as his beloved team capitulated in extraordinary fashion.
United have been linked to potential Ten Hag replacements like Gareth Southgate, Julian Nagelsmann, Zinedine Zidane, Ruben Amorim, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Graham Potter and Carlo Ancelotti.
Amidst all this, Ten Hag believes he will be afforded more time by the top brass to overturn the situation and steer the club on the right path.
He spoke to Sky Sports ahead of his side’s Sunday clash vs. Liverpool and was asked whether he thinks he will still be in the Old Trafford dugout for the 2024/25 campaign.
The 54-year-old replied, “I don’t have any doubts. I’m just focusing on my job, focusing on this process, in this project. I really love to be here, I’m enjoying it. For me it’s a challenge.”
He added, “It will not go always in the right way, it’s not going always the results in the way we wanted but I’m sure we’re in the right direction and we will get where we want to be.”
Ten Hag will undoubtedly be hoping for a big performance and a big result vs. the Merseysiders on Sunday to silence some of his critics.
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