Erik ten Hag asked a journalist whether they fancy swapping jobs with him ahead of Manchester United’s trip to Turkey to take on Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce.
Ten Hag has been under significant pressure at United for most of last season and at the start of the current campaign, and has been heavily criticised by the media.
That pressure has eased slightly following United’s impressive second-half display in a much-needed win over Brentford on Saturday, and Ten Hag was in a jovial mood at the Football Writers’ Association dinner in Manchester on Sunday.
In jest, the Dutchman asked Neil Custis of The Sun, who’s never shy of giving his opinion on United, whether he wanted to swap jobs for a couple of weeks.
Ten Hag said: “I just spoke with one friend of mine in Germany. He said ‘Maybe you have to suggest one of the football writers to change jobs for two weeks…’,” which then prompted a comment in the audience from Custis.
“So I have a good trip to Istanbul. Really relaxing, you [fancy] facing Jose?” responded Ten Hag, as he probed the question to Custis.
“I’ll leave it in your hands,” responded the Sun reporter.
Manchester United are yet to win in the Europa League this season, having drawn both games thus far against FC Twente and Porto respectively.
“At United, we are just in the season,” added Ten Hag at the FWA event. “We are in the start. It was not a good start. We know that and we are not happy but we were happy yesterday, we have a win and a comeback. But it’s just one win.
“If you want to win trophies, you have to do it continually and need good performances and a hard job throughout the season. We also know trophies are not won in autumn, not in winter, not even in spring.
“It’s when you get into April and May. Our job is to get the team winning throughout all the season but, especially, in the end of the season. Then we have to make sure we develop a team that are ready to win trophies.”
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On facing Mourinho, who led United to glory in the Europa League in 2017 when the Red Devils engineered a 2-0 win over Ajax, Ten Hag added:
“It’s a big game for both of us. I really enjoy facing him [Mourinho] and playing against him,” Ten Hag added.
“He always has good teams; he is a winner and has won so many trophies. He’s an example for many managers, so I will really enjoy playing against him.”
