Ten Hag: The new leadership acknowledges my achievements, we are here together

Erik ten Hag was asked about three players during the second part of his press conference, to preview Saturday’s Premier League trip to Southampton. 

The boss fully backed Matthijs de Ligt, following a difficult outing for the defender during the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw with Germany. He also reiterated the importance of Casemiro in providing the squad with experience and depth, saying that footballers always experience ups and downs during their careers. Finally, Ten Hag went into more depth on new signing Manuel Ugarte, who could be involved for the first time, at St Mary’s Stadium, at the weekend.

DE LIGT NEEDS GAMES

“I know Matthijs, he’s a great personality, he has character. He will overcome this and he will bounce back in that situation, in the Dutch squad. Definitely, it’s not in his club situation, so I’m not afraid for this situation. I know his qualities, I know his personality and I know he will fight back. He had a very difficult pre-season because he didn’t play games. The only game he really played from the start, the only start he had, was the last game against Liverpool. Without this, he had to go in starts for the Dutch squad, so, of course, he’s not in a rhythm yet, he’s not up to full speed but, once he’s up to full speed, you will see a different quality, when he’s in his rhythm.”

I’M LOOKING FORWARD

“In football, you have to win. In football, you have to deliver, that’s clear. As I’ve said, I have delivered here. It’s good that the new leadership acknowledge this, they tell this, and we are here together. We are working together to be even more successful, because we have higher targets than we already have achieved.”

PLAYERS HAVE UPS AND DOWNS

“Of course, it’s a different approach. He [Casemiro] is experienced and it’s not the first time, I guess, that he has dealt with a bad game. Now he has to overcome this one as well, but that is normal in life. You have highs and you have lows, in your life and also in the life of a football player. Only for a football player, of course, that is obvious, there are many observing this and have an opinion about this. You have also to deal with this. He knows how to deal with it. No one career goes only up, no one team level or team pattern is only going up. You have to deal with it, but it’s about what is the end result.”

Ten Hag reveals team news for Saturday Article

UGARTE A LONG-TERM TARGET

“I played him already, as manager of Ajax, when we played Sporting Lisbon. He’s quite a long time on my radar. He’s coming in, it’s a late transfer coming in, but he’s playing in a very important position. You have to connect defending with attacking and attacking with defending. Communication is very important there, to tie the team, to lead the team, to make the connection between attacking and defence, defence and attacking. We have to help him, we have to guide him, how he has to play that role, but from what we have seen, he knows already a lot, of course. He has the profile where we think he can fit in that role and now we have to teach him some details, how it works in our team. It was not only that match but also in the seasons after, when he played there, when he played for Uruguay, when he played for Paris [Saint-Germain]. I have him in my mind, I have him in my eye. The scouting department has him in their mind and we followed him. We judged that he would be a really good fit for our team.”

DEPTH IS VITAL

“You can’t have a squad where there are positions that we have only one player who can cover this. You need at least two players in every position who can cover this. Sometimes, it’s three for two and it’s okay when you have very robust players, but he [Casemiro] understands. All the players will understand and then it’s about what is the best fit for the team by the end of the day. They have to prove that. They have to take responsibility – and that is the key word – to win games for your club.”