ERIK TEN HAG says only Manchester City can talk about title ambitions while the rest aim for the top four.
The Manchester United boss guided his side to third last season 14 points behind Pep Guardiola’s men who claimed their fifth title in six years.
And asked if the Red Devils could now realistically talk of a title challenge he was as forthright as ever.
Ten Hag said: “I think in pre-season we shouldn’t talk about that – I think no one in the Premier League can do that, maybe City, they can do that because for the last six years they won the title five times.
“So they can talk about that, but any other club must first compete for the first four positions, and make sure you are getting in the first four and then after the first two and then maybe you can see about getting yourself into such a position, but don’t talk about that achievement.”
Ten Hag undoubtedly improved United last season guiding them back into the Champions League as well as winning the clubs first trophy since 2017 with the Carabao Cup.
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While they lost to City in the FA Cup Final and by 6-3 at The Etihad they also claimed a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag said: “I think we have proven we can beat them but you have to do it every day and in this moment we have a way to go.
“City is also winning their games much more easily than we did so I see the facts.
“But I don’t want to talk about them because it sounds negative and it’s not the way I meant it. I want to talk about our project.
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“I want to talk about how we improve and I think the improvements last year and the result were quite obvious, but also in the performance it was quite obvious that we could beat the big opponents, and also City.
“In the three games you saw absolutely that we increased the levels against them.
“We have a competition with seven, eight clubs in the Premier League, across Europe even more teams, so we have to work on our way of play and improve our performance. It has to be optimum.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
