Ten Hag thrilled with United's improved performance against Villa

United lost 3-1 to Villa in their Premier League clash on Sunday.
 

"The fighting spirit was back. Players are not robots and I know that, but you can't accept it, that you get beaten like Sunday. It was quite clear the reaction from the team today, when you go two times go down and fight back like this. You see the progress we make in our attitude. You show the progress we make in mentality. We are in the right direction." said Erik ten Hag

"For defending, rules are not but or if, I just demand them to do it. In offensive possession, I call it principles, there's more freedom. How close you come to an opponent's goal, the more freedom is coming up. But also there, there's still some principles. You can also organise attacking football. You need that and while you're attacking in our game it's really important, the rest defence. In that balance in the rest defence, it's again, 100 per cent discipline. If not, you got killed like Sunday, like with the third goal."

"Now in this mooment we have a lot of players who are nominated for the squads, who are performing in the World Cup. That's good for Manchester United. So I'm really happy for all of the players who go to the World Cup. That's a great event. You are competing with the best players, with the biggest nations. So that is a great experience and they become better football players there. So it's great. The more players for Manchester United there, the better it is."