In the second part of the press conference before the City game, there was talk of Pep Guardiola, the plan to stop Haaland and the January window and now continue that Weghorst is United.
Firstly, Ten Hag was asked about the 3-6 loss at the Etihad Ground in the fall and whether the Dutchman thought the team wasn’t brave enough at the time and what message would be given to the team on Saturday.
– Yes, but more importantly, grappling with how we have to play and thinking about what it means to be really brave?
It’s always about how we play, giving each other options when we have possession, evaluating options and making the right decisions. This is what it means to be brave. A team that shows they are going in the same direction and have the same ideas in every situation.
On par with Citi
Later, Ten Hag was asked if there was anything to learn from Pep Guardiola, whom he also worked under at Bayern Munich when Guardiola was manager of the German giants.
Ten Hag came first with a short answer:
There is too much to talk about and too little to boil down to a 30-second answer.
As a follow-up, Ten Hag was asked to summarize her best points.
It’s about being proactive. Football at the highest level is all about results, but everyone wants to do it in their own unique way, and you also have to have fun. Top Football is about winning, but at the same time entertaining the fans you’re playing for.
On top of that, questions turned to Guardiola’s remarks, which earlier in the week had to do with the Spanish City manager saying he would come up with something very clever against United – before toning it all down in Friday’s press conference and saying it was all over. a joke.
Reporters then asked if Ten Hag felt this could be similar to what Sir Alex Ferguson used to do before big matches during his time as manager at United. Tin Hag didn’t allow himself to be particularly obvious.
– I don’t care what he thinks, but I think he does it a lot and we were ready for that. We follow our principles and rules regardless.
When it comes to how to stop Haaland, those in attendance wonder if Lisandro Martinez will be up to the task of taming the Premier League’s top scorer – something he did brilliantly when Ajax met Dortmund in the Champions League last season.
It’s quite clear he’s a very good player, but we also have good players and I’m convinced our players are more than good enough to be completely on par with the Manchester City players.
Many players in rapid development
When the press conference took place, a move to Wout Weghorst had not yet been confirmed and Ten Hag said he would be content with the balance in the team with Weghorst.
– When we get to this with Wout (Weghorst) – Which was confirmed by United on Friday evening – I will be very happy because he is a player we need for balance in the team.
– If more opportunities arise, we are ready to look for that as well, but it has to be the right player and then we have to look at the development of the players we already have. Alejandro Garnacho is the best example, but you also see this week we had some good players in Kobe Maino and Facundo Pellestri. There players will fight for playing time, which they have to earn through training. They have to compete and prove themselves – and if they do – we don’t hesitate to give them the opportunity to contribute to the team with the same high standards as we do.
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