Ten Hag: Top four is not enough
United back in big time but coach wants title next season Antony and Shaw in race to be fit for Cup final clash with City
Erik ten Hag has demanded a major improvement from his Manchester team and for “better players” to be added to his squad after they secured a return to Champions League football last night with a rout of Chelsea.
United needed just a point to secure a top-four finish and they crossed that line in style. Having already won the EFL Cup earlier this year and with an FA Cup final to come next week against Manchester City, Ten Hag was able to describe his first season as a success. But he is still looking for more next season as he turns his attention to even higher goals.
“The top four is not good enough for me,” he said. “I think in this league, that’s a good base to be in the top four but, yes, we want to compete for the title.
“But it has to be realistic and you can first say when you have your squad in the end of the transfer window and also the winter transfer window, the squad is there and you can make a statement about if it’s realistic or not.
“Now we are far away, so we have a lot of work to do, we’ve made progress with this team, with this squad but we need better players if we want to compete for the highest.
“You have to see now how you come out of the transfer window but if I see now we need more. But I don’t have so much patience, that is one of my mistakes. We have work to do, so a work in progress.”
However, he has a major shortterm worry over Antony and Luke Shaw, two potential starters at Wembley, who face a race to be fit. The Brazil winger sustained what the manager described as a “serious ankle” injury and was carried off in the first half. England left-back Shaw will join him in the treatment
room today after suffering a back injury and coming off at half-time.
And, while Ten Hag admits it will take time before the full extent of the injuries are known, it was clear the final in eight days may come too soon – especially for Antony.
“It’s difficult to say. Wait for 24 hours and we’ll know more,” he said. “Of course everyone saw Antony come off and I can tell you it’s serious.
“But we have to wait a minimum 24 hours then we know more about the status of his injury.
“I can’t say. You will understand. We have to wait. Antony looks serious but we don’t know what it is. With Shaw, we have to wait as well. After tomorrow we know more.”
United’s success denied rivals Liverpool a place in the Champions League, with United captain Bruno Fernandes mischievously relishing the fact.
“We know it means a lot to the fans,” he said. “We know we’d be happy also for Liverpool to not be there, but for us it’s about getting the best for ourselves.”
But for Ten Hag, the qualification marks another achievement in his first campaign in English football, one which could yet end with more honours.
“It’s a successful season but the season is not finished,” he said. “I have always high expectations of myself, this club belongs in the Champions League, you have to qualify for the first four, but this league is very strong and there are many teams who can compete for the position and they can do it, they have high budgets, good squads.
“In the Premier League, the top four is something like a trophy, it’s the main objective of the season to get in the Champions League.
“The competition is tough, there are many teams with really good squads, good managers, so when you are in there, you did a good job and your team is playing well and for this moment this is the maximum, but we want more.”
Defeat was the latest in a series of blows for caretaker manager Frank Lampard and a Chelsea side destined for their worst season this century.
“My feeling is it’s about the reality of where we are at,” he said. “When things are off for a period which has been the season, it is not easy to turn it and then a run-in against top clubs that are going for something, nothing is given. We played OK in parts, some performances can be green shoots for the future but they were clinical in front of goal, we were non-clinical and how we defended in the second half was a problem.”
Lampard also declined to be drawn into debates about whether his team – the youngest starting XI in Chelsea’s Premier League history last night – have players simply not good enough for the top level.
“It is a question that will be asked of you as a professional at a top club and the answer comes with how you work and train and prepare and that was quite glaringly short as a collective,” he said.
“When a group is together good things come and at the moment that is not there.”