Anshuman Joshi
Erik ten Hag has taken to refusing to answer “critical” journalists
According to a report from The Telegraph, as per The Daily Mail, Erik ten Hag‘s demeanour in press conferences is only getting worse.
The Dutchman had a moment in the lead-up to the Sheffield United game where he criticised the media for calling his side’s FA Cup semi-final over Coventry City “embarrassing”.
Even after the game against the Blades, in which his side won 4-2, Ten Hag refused to take questions from the journalists whom he deemed too critical of him.
This isn’t the first time this season that Man United have had to endure media issues. In December last year, they banned journalists from Sky Sports, ESPN, Manchester Evening News, and The Mirror from attending their press conferences, having stated that these outlets did not allow the club to respond to the negative stories they were publishing about them.
It takes two to tango
There isn’t any one side at fault here.
Indeed, many once highly regarded media outlets have fallen into disrepute over the years by taking off their cloaks of nuanced journalism and replacing it with the sword of edgy, reactionary commentary better associated with online trolls.
It’s the age of the internet, after all, and engagement is key. To that end, many times in press conferences managers are deliberately asked questions that would likely elicit an acerbic response.
Ten Hag is not the only manager to have fallen victim to such shenanigans, and he certainly does not have the communicational nuance nor the temperament to let escalatory questions slide, so naturally when asked if he thought his side’s win in the FA Cup semi-final was embarrassing, he clapped back, so to speak.
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None of this changes the bottom line, though. Results are king, and as long as you have them on your side, you can be as witty in your media responses as you want. Ten Hag needed results, and he doesn’t have them, leaving him ever closer to the exit door at Old Trafford.
