Defiant Erik ten Hag has insisted Manchester United will sort out their problems and make the season a success.

United bosses are backing Ten Hag despite an embarrassing performance in Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham in the Premier League.

But there are crucial games at Porto and Aston Villa this week as the pressure on the Dutchman increases ahead of the international break.

Sunday, October 6th, 1:00 p.m

Kick-off is at 2:00 p.m

“We will make this season a success,” said Ten Hag Sky Sports.

“Nothing is easy, but that is no reason for me to panic,” he added. “We can solve (the problems), this team can solve it.”

Ten Hag’s position was also precarious over the summer with several candidates looking for ways to replace him, but he insists he enjoys the trust of those deciding his fate.

Asked if he thinks he will keep his job even if the next two games go badly, Ten Hag said: “I’m not thinking about it, I’m not worried.”

“We created a relationship with the owners and management over the summer.

“We made this agreement and we were all behind it. We know the strategy of signing young players in a transition phase.”

“You also know that in all my last six seasons there have always been trophies in May and that is what we are aiming for.”

Ten Hag ended United’s six-year trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup in his first season and then lifting the FA Cup in his second season, but almost lost his job due to the club’s poor performances in the league.

United finished eighth last season, a record low in the Premier League, and have started this season with two wins from six games, leaving them in the bottom half of the table with seven points.

Ten Hag says the most important thing for him and his staff now is to make sure the players keep their faith.

“If you lose your faith, you lose everything,” he said. “We have to keep going and stick to the plan.

“We at Manchester United have been in a period of transition for a long time,” he added. “From the moment I walked in we knew we had to change. We had to replace some older players.”

“Our decision was to involve young players and that takes time to understand the messages, get a game model on board and introduce a new culture. That takes time.”

“In the meantime you have to win, and I think we’ve proven over the last two years that we win.”

“I have proven in my career that I will always win. In the last six years I have won eight trophies.”

Gary Neville said Sunday’s game was the worst he had seen United under Ten Hag, describing the performance as “disgusting”.

When asked if he took responsibility for mistakes on the pitch, Ten Hag replied: “If the players perform poorly, then I haven’t done my job well because they haven’t played the way I expect them to had.”

“We are in this together and we have to fight together to get out of it.”

Ten Hag insists he and the players are “on the same page” despite the worrying performance against Spurs.

Asked if he was sure the players would be a good fit, he added: “Yes. We saw that there is a good atmosphere in this group. Even after all the setbacks (in the Spurs defeat) they kept going.”

“You see that spirit in this team and you see that this is a team where they want to fight for each other.”

“You can also see the fans, they are disappointed, but they stayed with us and continued to support us from the first to the last moment. We are in this together.”

You can read the full transcript here Sky Sports’ Exclusive interview with Ten Hag here.

Explained: Why Man Utd is standing by Ten Hag

Melissa Reddy, Sky Sports News senior reporter:

“Manchester United have openly admitted that the club’s biggest problem in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era has been the lack of a football-focused approach, a proper brain trust with the best in the business and a structure that adheres to elite clubs in all of Europe.

“There is recognition that so many good managers have come to Old Trafford and failed, so the problem lies in the foundation and correction as a starting point. You also know that Erik ten Hag had to deal with so much turmoil off the pitch – be it the discipline of the players or the drawn-out takeover – and the football team’s new management team felt they didn’t have the best support , to have the best knowledge and the best help around you.

“They allowed him to change his coaching team this summer, have a renewed influence on recruitment and wanted to give him at least a full season under this new INEOS-backed team to see if there was an improvement. Albeit bleak. “Performances like Tottenham are becoming the norm, it will be incredibly difficult for them to stick to this approach.”

Neville: Man Utd’s performance in defeat to Spurs is ‘absolutely disgusting’

Sky Sports’ Gary Neville speaks after Sunday’s defeat to Tottenham:

“The first half was as bad as it gets. This is a shocking day, a sobering day. This is a really bad day for Ten Hag.”

“You can’t say it came out of nowhere because Manchester United have been inconsistent all season, but they decided to put in their worst performance, their worst performance ever.”

“It was an absolutely disgusting performance in that first half in terms of performance, quality and everything you want from a football team and there will be a lot of questions to answer for this group and the manager over the next week.”