Erik ten Hag expects 'very open' talks with Manchester United owners after Aston Villa draw

Erik ten Hag played down the speculation regarding his Manchester United future and insisted he was still fully focused on transforming their fortunes following their goalless draw with Aston Villa.

United put in an impressive defensive performance at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon, but lacked any real attacking threat as they failed to score for the third Premier League match in a row.

The draw eased the immediate pressure on Ten Hag but still leaves United with a big decision to make on the future of the manager as they head into the second international break of the season.

Speaking after the draw, Ten Hag revealed he would hold further ‘open and transparent’ talks with the club's hierarchy, just as he has done on a daily basis since they arrived at the club.

“I speak continuously with them,” he said in his post-match press conference. “Just after the game I have to do my job, talk with the players, manage the players and answer questions from you. We always talk, every week. Every day we talk so yeah I expect I will speak with them.

“I think you said it very good, it is external noise. Internal we are disappointed and we know we need to do better, especially we need to score more because after this block of games that’s the area we’re really short. All the other areas we’re doing really well. We have four clean sheets so that says a lot about the defending and the organisation and defending of defensive transitions, we are doing really well and improving on that point. Our build up play is very good. We are creating the chances apart from today, today we should have created more, that area in the box of the opponent we have to be more ruthless, more clinical, more killing and we have to work on this.”

When asked if he was certain the club’s owners were still behind him, he added: "I don't have any idea that it is different. They should have told me, we communicate very open and very transparent."