Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has just ignored Premier League leaders Arsenal while talking about all the clubs that pose a tough challenge to his side.
The Dutchman took charge of the Red Devils last summer, and despite a shocking start to the campaign, his side have recovered and are fifth in the table now – just three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham, who have played a game more.
However, they’re still a long way off Arsenal, which has probably annoyed Ten Hag a bit.
Erik Ten Hag ignores Arsenal but names West Ham among Man United’s rivals
Ten Hag was speaking to the media about how much the Premier League has changed over the last 10 years.
The Manchester United boss feels his side face a lot of competition in the league – not just from the big sides, but also Newcastle and even West Ham, even though the latter is currently 16th in the table.
Ten Hag then goes on to name all the big sides that are a problem for Manchester United, but he just completely ignores Arsenal, even though we are the Premier League leaders at the moment.
He said, as quoted by The Metro: “There’s a change in circumstances when you compare [the Premier League] with five or 10 years ago. The competition is much tougher.
“Newcastle are coming, even West Ham, maybe not now in the table but they have huge investment.
“Spurs definitely and I don’t need to talk about [Manchester] City and Liverpool or Chelsea. You can quickly count seven or eight clubs that can compete in this league.
“It’s also about strategy, not just money. But it’s clear that when you don’t have the right players and quality players you will not be successful and achieve the targets you set.”
The Insider’s View:
Ten Hag may have ignored Arsenal because of how well we’re doing this season, or perhaps he just forgot to mention us. Either way, we deserve to be in the conversation more than any other side there.
“It’s also about strategy, not just money,” says Ten Hag. Arsenal’s strategy in the transfer market since before the start of last season has arguably been the best in the country.
We’ve only signed players who are either 25 years old or below, and almost every single one of them has been a huge success. That’s the reason why we are where were are – top of the Premier League table and five points clear of defending champions Manchester City.
We don’t want to help Manchester United by any means, but if they really want to get back to being a top team, they should maybe look at what Arteta and Edu have done over the last two years and take some notes.
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