Erik Ten Hag tasks his players to 'act as robots' as he defends them against critics

In an effort to turn his team into a winning engine, Erik ten Hag claims that there is no room at Manchester United for players who lack hunger.

Even though there have been some embarrassing jolts along the way, there has been a perceptible improvement since the Dutchman joined from Ajax last summer.

Awkward instances included the 6-3 loss at Manchester City in October, the record-breaking 7-0 humiliation at Liverpool last month, and Sunday's meek 2-0 loss to top-four rivals Newcastle.

Ten Hag lamented his team's lack of motivation at St. James' Park, just as he did following Wednesday's opponents Brentford's 4-0 loss in his second game as manager.

Given that the problem hasn't been resolved after eight months, I asked him if he was worried that some players will never understand the importance of hunger and enthusiasm. He replied: “When they can’t get this (message), then they are in the wrong place. I agree we dropped (at Newcastle), so we returned to old habits but also know there are fluctuations because persons are not robots."

“But we have to act as robots, we have to act as machines.

“We can expect and we have to expect and demand from our players that they match the standards, so when we are not doing (that) we are disappointed because that is our job.”

When asked if this group can become robots, performing week in, week out, he said: “Yeah, because we have shown (in) so many games we did it.

“Very strong belief, very strong confidence, very strong passion, the togetherness we had. We have shown it in many games and in big games."

“We have shown we can win the games, but you have to do it every time because that is the demand on the top player."

“That is the expectation Manchester United and the fans have from our team and from our players so they have to do it," he explained.

Rio Ferdinand claimed that United's players have "downed tools" since winning the Carabao Cup, but Ten Hag refuted this claim and claimed that the players are aware that losses like Sunday's are "not the standard for a Manchester United team."

The Dutchman, however, is not "caught in the emotion after one defeat" and continues to have faith in his team as they compete for additional hardware and Champions League qualification.

“I trust my players and they deserve it because they gave the performances,” Ten Hag said. “We are in the right position, but we had a bad really start to the season.

“When you go to Newcastle and deliver this, that is far below the standards, far below the performance we can expect.”