The Red Devils are now winless in their last four league outings after being held to a 2-2 draw away at Bournemouth on Saturday evening, a result which leaves them in seventh place following Newcastle’s win over Tottenham.
It could have been even worse for United with the referee awarding a spot-kick to Andoni Iraola’s side deep into stoppage time, but after a long check from VAR it was decided that the offence happened just outside the box.
Rather than hunting down fourth spot and a place in the Champions League, United are now looking over their shoulder with West Ham and potentially even Chelsea capable of overtaking them.
If they finish in seventh, that would represent United’s joint-worst finish in Premier League history – having also finished there in the 2013-14 season when David Moyes was in charge.
There is clearly the possibility that they could end up even lower, with Ten Hag potentially claiming the unwanted record outright, but the Dutchman recoiled at the suggestion at his post-match press conference and refused to answer the question.
Just as the press officer appeared to be wrapping up the conference, one journalist asked: ‘Erik there’s a danger you could get caught in seventh place, and if you fall below seventh place that would be the worst finish in Premier League history for United. Do you think you’re going to be above…’
But Ten Hag did not give the journalist time to finish his question, getting up out of his seat and saying: ‘I don’t comment, [I don’t] take that question. It’s not… that is not important for this moment in time.’
The former Ajax boss then walked out of the media suite abruptly as the journalist could be heard saying: ‘I tried.’
Reflecting on the result and performance against Bournemouth, Ten Hag told Match of the Day: ‘We know we have to win. We want to battle, to compete for the top positions. You see the game, we struggled first half, [Harry] Maguire was struggling but he overcame because we needed him to.
‘The second half was much better, the good thing is we fought back twice from a losing position. The team spirit is good.
‘By the end it could’ve been more composed and calm and we could’ve played more chance out. The opponent was struggling because they gave so much energy in the first half and there were so many gaps but we didn’t benefit from it.’
United are next in action against Coventry City in the semi-final of the FA Cup before resuming their Premier League campaign with home matches against the bottom two, Sheffield United and Burnley – two matches which are now must-win games.
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