Erik ten Hag reveals the six-word message he said to Man Utd players in dressing-room speech after Tottenham humiliation

A defiant Erik ten Hag delivered a telling dressing room message to his players after Manchester United suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.

Just days after stumbling to a 1-1 draw against FC Twente in the Europa League, United produced their most lacklustre performance of the season in front of a deflated Old Trafford crowd.

Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs after a superb run from centre-back Micky van de Ven, who cruised past several United players before putting the ball on a plate for Johnson.

Things then went from bad to worse for the Reds as second-half goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke sealed a straight-forward three points for the dominant visitors.

It was an afternoon to forget for United and Ten Hag, who is under serious pressure after a disappointing start to the Premier League campaign that has featured two wins from a possible six.

Speaking in his post-match interview, the Dutchman gave an insight into his dressing message to the United squad following another poor display.

"There is always a new day," he said. "I told the guys in the dressing room, 'Come on. Tomorrow, a new day.' We will bounce back, I’m sure.'"

Shortly after the interview, Ten Hag was asked if the owners might be having second thoughts around his future.

"I'm not thinking about being sacked," he said in his post-match press conference. "We all made this decision to stay together in the summer, as an ownership group, leadership group.

"Also we made the decision, after a clear review, what we have to improve as an organisation and how to construct a squad.

"All decisions are made in togetherness, also knowing it would take some time. We are all there on one page, one boat, the ownership, the leadership group, the staff and players too."

Image credit: Getty

Many fans and pundits were critical of United's performance against Spurs, including Paul Scholes, who said they looked like an "uncoached team" in a scathing assessment.

"You don’t know how they’re going to play," Scholes said on SuperSport.

"You don’t know how they’re going to approach games, whether they are going to play on the counter-attack or sit deep or whether they’re going to try to have all the possession in the game. We’ve no idea.

"They look like an uncoached football team. We’re two and a bit years in now… from the first week Ange Postecoglou went in, we probably knew what Tottenham were doing and they’re doing it to this day. We’re two and a bit years down the road [with Ten Hag at United]."

Scholes added: "As I said, it’s an uncoached team. The players looked dead today, they looked flat and they looked like they were thinking 'I don’t know what to do'

"There’s no enthusiasm for the game of football and that can only come from the training pitch."