Matthijs de Ligt lifts lid on how Erik ten Hag is dealing with Manchester United sack threat

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Erik ten Hag may seemingly be hanging onto his Manchester United job by a thread, but Matthijs de Ligt says his manager is remaining calm.

The Red Devils boss is under huge pressure after a really bad start to the season which has produced three defeats in the opening six Premier League games.

United are down in 13th in the early-season table after the 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham at the weekend and Ten Hag is on very thin ice.

On Thursday he takes his team to Porto in the Europa League and then there is a trip to Aston Villa on Sunday, two tough games which could spell the end for him at the club.

However, De Ligt says his fellow Dutchman at least appears unfazed and is trying to cajole his players out of the rut they find themselves in.

Asked if he feels his manager is starting to feel the pressure, De Ligt told Viaplay: ‘No, not really. He remains calm and keeps doing the same things. He keeps motivating the players.’

The centre-back worked with Ten Hag in their time at Ajax together and seemed to admit that his boss is finding it difficult to deal with the higher standard of opposition in the Premier League.

On whether Ten Hag is the same in Manchester as he was in Amsterdam, the defender said: ‘Yes, for the most part.

‘But the resilience in the Eredivisie is very different than here in the Premier League. Every club here has a manager at a very high tactical level, and you have to be able to respond to that.’

The former Ajax manager has insisted that he is not worried about losing his job in the near future, saying that he is comfortable with the ‘togetherness’ created with the new minority owners and football hierarchy of the club.

Asked if he still expects to be in charge this weekend, he told Sky Sports: ‘I'm not thinking about it, I'm not anxious. We are together.

'We created a togetherness in the summer with the ownership and the leadership.

'We made this agreement and we were all behind it. We also know the strategy [is to bring in] young players in a transition period.

'They also know in the end when we are May, in all my last six seasons, always there were trophies. That is what we are also now aiming for.'

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