By Simon Mullock ERIK TEN HAG delivered a passionate defence of his Manchester United reign by telling his critics to judge him when he gets his best team on the pitch.

United’s season has been decimated by fitness problems – and Ten Hag goes into the FA Cup semi-final clash with Coventry knowing that fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal was sacked in 2016 less than 24 hours after lifting the trophy at Wembley.

New minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is evaluating every aspect of the club’s football strategy – and the manager will come under intolerable pressure if Mark Robins’ Championship underdogs deliver a shock.

Yet Ten Hag is adamant that he has only been able to pick his strongest team ONCE during his two seasons at Old Trafford.

He said: “I don’t put any energy into whether I am judged fairly or not.

Setbacks

“I know what we are doing here and I know why I am here – to bring trophies and also to create economic value. So we are working on that. In a process, you have setbacks and I look at that and can see it realistically.

“There is no nuance. I see the comments, I can’t be bothered about it. I can’t get into the emotions of that.

“I see it realistically and I am only focusing on my team, on how to improve my team, to improve individuals.

“That is why I am here.

“I don’t have any concern. What concerns me is that in 18 months I have never had my favourite team on the pitch once, because players were injured – that concerns me.

“In fact there was only one time, against Manchester City at home last season. That is the only time I had a full squad to pick my full team. In all the other games, there was an injury aspect that we have had to deal with.

“That’s normal in football, but not as many as we have had.

“And I know that when we’ve had so many injuries in crucial positions, you can’t deliver the results you want to bring.

“That’s OK, but that’s my truth. Others can have different truths but I can’t put any energy into that.” In the game Ten Hag is referring to, United came from