‘This has to be the turning point’ – Ten Hag rallying cry suggests all is not well at Man Utd

Erik ten Hag stated a win against Brentford “has to be the turning point” in the season for Manchester United, as he detailed his “relief” after a poor start.

Ten Hag’s first season for United was one of the best a manager of the club has had in recent years. He won the League Cup and finished third in the Premier League a season after they’d come sixth.

Whether second season syndrome is kicking in or things at the club are just getting a bit much, the outlook is much worse now than it was last season.

Ten Hag has had to contend with Jadon Sancho’s apparent lack of commitment, eventually banishing him from the side, as well as losing both Champions League games so far and half of the Premier League games.

A win against Brentford was a rare piece of good news – a loss would have made it three on the bounce in all competitions. It was a rollercoaster in that they were 1-0 down until stoppage time, when late substitute Scott McTominay bagged a brace to steal the win.

The midfielder stated it was “one of my favourite moments on a football pitch” but Ten Hag’s mood was a rather more sombre one after the final whistle, as his suggestion that relief has been a theme of the season points to this being a tough time for everyone at the club.

“Relief. It sums up the whole season,” he told BBC Match of the Day.

“You start the game doing OK, not top but OK. But then you give away a goal that should not happen. A wrong decision to take a free kick quickly when not everyone is in position, we lose the ball then lose the battle in the box and go behind.”

While he was slightly more complimentary of his side afterwards, that he wants a game which could quite easily have been a loss to be a watershed moment in the season shows just how rocky a ride he’s on at the moment.

“We kept going, we kept the belief and we kept fighting. Then we get the reward in the end, we made our own luck,” Ten Hag added.

“Not all positive, we gave the first goal away. It was so disappointing to see that, after Tuesday as well when we were so dominant in the game and then concede. It can’t be this way.

“This has to be the turning point, the reset, in our approach, our attitudes, as a team and as individuals. From the start of a game you have to believe, the fans believed and kept behind us, we need to match that.”

READ MORE: Man Utd 2-1 Brentford: McTominay stoppage-time brace claws victory from jaws of defeat