Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag made an honest admission that his team is a “long way” from winning the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
Ten Hag, who won the FA Cup last season by beating Manchester City in the final at England’s Wembley Stadium, concurred with the remarks of former Man Utd boss Ralf Rangnick who stated that the “attitude and energy” at Old Trafford require a change.
“Rangnick was absolutely right. We’ve been working very hard on that for two years, but he said it just right,” Ten Hag said during an interview with Dutch newspaper AD Sportwereld.
“Our standards still need to go up. I knew when I started that it was going to be a tough job. There are a lot of people who have advised me. Louis van Gaal too.
“We want this club back to where it was more than a decade ago, to a club that wins the Premier League, which can win Champions Leagues. We are really a long way away from that, I think.
“I think we’ve taken steps since then, otherwise we wouldn’t have won two prizes, but we are not yet so far that a ‘winning culture’ already prevails here in all respects.
“Our standards, our norms and values, still need to go up. I was not shocked (by what I inherited). But the culture, the mentality was really not good. To win, to really achieve top performance every week, we had to change a lot.”
Ten Hag also talked about Jadon Sancho, who started training with the team for the first time since August 2023 and featured in Saturday’s 2-0 friendly win at Rangers.
“We spoke well. Everyone can make a mistake,” Ten Hag said. “This club needs good players, and one thing is certain: Jadon Sancho is a very good player. I hope that we will still click and that he will contribute to our success.”
