Erik ten Hag dismisses 'ridiculous' Premier League title talk for Man Utd
By Tom Gott
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has insisted that talk of winning the Premier League title in his debut season is 'ridiculous'.
Despite a bumpy start, United are just one point behind rivals Manchester City after Saturday's 2-1 victory in the derby, with league leaders Arsenal now just six points away with a game in hand.
Fans have claimed United must be considered contenders for the title after catching up to City, but Ten Hag was in no mood to humour those claims.
"It’s ridiculous to talk about titles in January, so don’t do that," he said. "We are not even halfway. There is a lot to come. There are a lot of gaps in our game as well that we have to work on."
Ten Hag's message echoes comments from defender Luke Shaw, who insisted January is far too early for United to be thinking about winning their first Premier League title since 2013.
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“It’s too early to think about that,” said the left-back, who has been shining in a central role in recent weeks. “Right now as a team we have make sure we have the right consistency in performances and results.
“It’s always about winning. If you play well or not you need to be winning, and recently we’ve been doing that. We’ve not been playing our best but we’ve still been winning games.
“We’re still in four competitions. We’re Manchester United, we have to aim high, and of course we want to win all four but whether that happens or not is down to us, it’s down to the way we act, the way we rest and get ready for the next game.
“Now we have to forget about this game, forget about this win. We have a massive game on Wednesday against Crystal Palace.”