LONDON: Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada says struggling manager Erik ten Hag has the full backing of the club despite a poor start to the Premier League season. United finished eighth in the league last season - their worst since 1990 - but Ten Hag led his men to an unexpected FA Cup final win against Manchester City.

The Dutchman was handed a one-year contract extension in July but only after club bosses considered alternatives. Now Ten Hag is under pressure again following Sunday’s miserable 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool, United’s second loss from three games this season, which left them 14th in the table.

Speaking alongside new sporting director Dan Ashworth shortly before kick-off against Liverpool, Berrada said it would take more than a couple of bad results to shake the club’s belief in their manager.

“Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely,” he said. “We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.” Ten Hag’s contract was extended before either Berrada or Ashworth had taken up their positions but both said they were happy with the decision.

Ashworth said: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Erik for the last eight weeks. “I see my job is to support him in every way I possibly can and whether that’s operationally, whether that’s with recruitment, whether that’s with medical, whether that’s with psychology, whether that’s training ground flow, it’s just to take as much of that off him to allow him to fully focus on the training pitch and the match tactical plan to deliver success for Manchester United.”

Ashworth’s first few weeks in the job were dominated by the transfer window, in which United signed Matthijs De Ligt, Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui. But just as notable were the departures of players including Scott McTominay and Jadon Sancho.

After a falling-out with Ten Hag early last season Sancho returned to former club Borussia Dortmund on loan in January. The pair appeared to have made up as Sancho took part in United’s pre-season and played in the Community Shield but on deadline day he joined Chelsea on loan with an obligation to buy.

Asked what had changed, Ashworth said it had been down to the player’s wish to move on. “We felt we had enough depth in that particular position to be able to cover it, we’ve got four really good wide players — Jadon was a fifth — and it just enabled us to make that decision that if it was good for him and good for us it was something we were willing to consider,” he said.

“He wanted to explore the opportunity at Chelsea, like Scott wanted to explore the opportunity at Napoli, like Aaron (Wan-Bissaka) wanted to explore the opportunity at West Ham. We’re not in a position where we’re kicking players out of the club.” — AFP