Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag insists his players must set “the highest standards” as he directly responded to a ‘Play Like You Mean It’ banner from the club’s fans.
United won 1-0 against Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to a last-minute winner from Bruno Fernandes. The result has eased some of the pressure on Ten Hag, who is looking over his shoulder after suffering humbling 3-0 home defeats to Manchester City and Newcastle.
Red Devils fans made their feelings known about United’s poor form by holding up a banner that read “play like you mean it” before Saturday’s game. Whilst United won the game with a late winner, the pressure is very much on ahead of a crucial Champions League away clash at Copenhagen.
“The players made their efforts but there can always be more,” Ten Hag explained to reporters on Wednesday. “We expect the highest standards at Manchester United when you are a player, staff [member] or manager. Our fans expect high standards. They expect that you win every game. And when you’re not playing well, you still have to win.”
Midfielder Scott McTominay said of the banner after the match: “We saw the banner before the game, and a few of us said to the rest of the lads that these fans pay good money to come down and see us play.
“They support us every single week and we just want to repay them the best we can. Obviously, things aren’t going super well at the minute but we’ll use this win as a building block to get better, with the manager and his coaching staff that we trust a lot. We can go on, kick on and do better.”
He added: “It shouldn’t just be this game, but when everyone is against you, you have to come together and fight like dogs and that’s what we did today. It’s a building block we can work with and I thought we did more than enough to win the game in the end.”
The banner in question was also spotted by United legend Rio Ferdinand. He told TNT Sports: “When you’re a player and your own professionalism, your own character is being questioned by your own fans, that’s piercing.
“I’m pleased it got a response, I’m pleased that they saw it and I want to give credit to McTominay for his honesty there when he admitted that they’re all behind the management, they’re behind the staff, they’ll work like dogs.
“Look, it wasn’t a fantastic performance, there wasn’t any flashy finishing or well-put-together passing manoeuvres, but they ground out a result and that’s what they needed – it’s not always pretty but you have to say well done to them for coming to a tough place like Craven Cottage and getting the job done.”
United forward Alejandro Garnacho referenced the ‘Play like you mean it’ banner on his Instagram post after the match, in which he urged fans to ‘keep believing’ in the team. “Play like you mean it!” he posted along with a handshake emoji. “Keep believing in us… [Bruno Fernandes was] the main man!”