ERIK TEN HAG says he is not worried about the axe from Manchester United as he faces a doomsday scenario at Anfield.
SunSport revealed this week that former Chelsea boss Graham Potter is favoured by incoming investor Jim Ratcliffe to replace the Dutchman if results do not pick up.
And with United depleted by injuries and a suspension to captain Bruno Fernandes, they travel to league leaders Liverpool more in hope than expectation.
But asked if he was concerned about his own position, the former Ajax boss was adamant.
Ten Hag said: “No, that’s no concern because I’m here to win and I have to make the team play better.
“We are inconsistent and I have to work on the team playing on longer periods on a high level.
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“At Ajax, you have to win and here, definitely, that is the demand and for those demands you don’t run away from that and I don’t run away from that. The players in the squad are good enough to win every game.”
He added that he still senses the support from the owning Glazer family despite the downturn this season.
He said: “I feel that and they say that, but actually, and that’s fine, that’s okay but I’m focusing on the process, to make this team play better, I’m focusing on making the individuals better, that’s my concern. I’m focusing on the team.”
United followed up a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth by crashing out of Europe after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the midweek.
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It has left United fans fearing they will have to watch the Anfield clash, which they lost 7-0 last season, from behind the sofa.
Ten Hag, however, was once again trying to find reasons to be confident that they can get a result.
He said: “I didn’t see that we were scared there last season. It was a bad experience.
“The first half we played very decent and we got hammered just after half-time and then we collapsed.
“We can’t ignore it but we go there and we will be confident and I want my players to be confident from the start to the end, we have to fight there, challenge there and go to win there.
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“I think everyone knows and everyone is highly motivated when you go to Anfield and you know it’s going to be tough and everything, what every top footballer wants is to have that challenge and look forward.
“We can go head to head with them and that is our challenge for Sunday as well.
“We will put out a team who can challenge, a team that is confident to win that game, we will prepare the team as best as we can and a team to win there.”
While there was disappointment at finishing bottom of their Champions League Group A, Ten Hag said there can be benefits in giving his players midweek rests in the second half of the season as they aim for a top-four spot.
He said: “That’s true. We had so many injuries in the first part of the season and now we have fewer games.
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“The load will be less, so that can give players the opportunity to recover and more time on the training pitch but we will be fresher in the games.”
As well as the suspended Fernandes, United will be without the injured Harry Maguire who could miss the next three games but Luke Shaw is fit.
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Joshua Jones
