Erik Ten Hag is confident that Manchester United will qualify for the Champions League round of 16 after losing 3-2 to Galatasaray at Old Trafford on Tuesday, Sportivationng.com reports.
United, who lost 4-3 at Bayern Munich in their opener last month, twice took the lead against the Turkish champions through Rasmus Hojlund but were pegged back by goals from Wilfried Zaha and Kerem Akturkoglu before Mauro Icardi scored the winner.
“Everything is open. There are still four games to go and we have a double (game) with Copenhagen,”
Ten Hag told TNT Sports after United lost for a sixth time in all competitions this season.
“Every game is tough but we know what to do. We know what our demand is there, to stay in this group and to keep our positions open for going through.”
Midfielder Christian Eriksen echoed his manager’s sentiments, telling TNT Sports: “Luckily it is only the start of the competition and we’ve only played two games.
“There’s still a lot of games to play and catch up – we know we need to win every game to have every opportunity to go through.”
United are also struggling on the domestic front and are off to their worst start to a top-flight campaign since 1989-90.
Their 1-0 defeat by Crystal Palace on Saturday was their fourth loss in seven Premier League games.
Ten Hag said he hoped to harness United’s disappointment ahead of their league game against Brentford on Saturday, when they will look to avoid a third consecutive home defeat in all competitions.
Asked whether he feared for his job, the Dutchman said: “Last season: brilliant, terrific, more than we could expect.
Three minutes after missing a penalty, Mauro Icardi gives Galatasaray the lead! 😲
🏴 Man Utd 2-3 Galatasaray 🇹🇷
🇮🇹 Napoli 2-3 Real Madrid 🇪🇸
🇫🇷 Lens 2-1 Arsenal 🏴
🇮🇹 Inter Milan 1-0 Benfica 🇵🇹📺 Stream #UCL live: https://t.co/TesYUfo62x pic.twitter.com/ijkrdyLykk
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) October 3, 2023
“We also knew in this project there would be common gaps. At this moment we are in a very difficult period as everyone can see but we come out together, we are fighting together, we are sticking together and we are behind each other. That is me, the directors, the team, all together we will fight.
“If I give an explanation, then you will see as excuses, there are no excuses. We can’t make the errors we are now making. We have to do better, it is a simple fact, we have to win our games.”
“This is not us, we know we have to do better, with togetherness we will come out.
“We have to go again and have energy,” he said. The setback we have, has to be the fuel for Saturday.” (Reuters)
