Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag sends message to Pep Guardiola ahead of Man City derby

Erik ten Hag takes charge of his first Manchester derby today, and the United manager is ready to go head-to-head with Manchester City at the Etihad.

Erik ten Hag has praised Pep Guardiola as the best manager in the world, but he maintains his Manchester United team will not back down from the challenge on derby day at the Etihad.

Ten Hag takes command of his first derby today, and he intends to send United out with the intention of imposing their own game on a City team that has been scoring goals for pleasure this season. Last season, United lost the two derbies by an aggregate score of 6-1, and they went down with a whimper at the Etihad, losing 4-1 in March after an abysmal second-half display.

But, under Ten Hag, United has shown more fight, recovering from a poor start to the season to win four consecutive Premier League games, earning the Dutchman the manager of the month title for September, and Marcus Rashford the player of the month award.

Those victories included victories over Liverpool and Arsenal at Old Trafford, and when they travel across town on Sunday, Ten Hag will instruct his players to assault City as well.

“We want to play our game according to our ideals and rules.” “We always respect our opponents, regardless of who they are — but we want to play our game,” he explained.

Ten Hag worked under Guardiola at Bayern Munich II between 2013 and 2015, and the Catalan was so satisfied with his performance that he recommended Ten Hag as a possible successor at the Etihad. But the former Ajax manager chose to try to resurrect United, and despite his long relationship with Guardiola, he still regards him as the best manager in the game right now.

“Of course, I recognize him — but we know everything about one another.” We worked together eight years ago, and as a manager, one of the most important things is to continuously be developing. That’s what he’s done, and I hope I’ve done the same,” the 52-year-old remarked.

“Hopefully, we’ve changed in the correct direction.” I’m sure he did, as did I. Who is the best manager in the world? He’s absolutely one of them, and he is for me. However, there are many more truly outstanding world-class managers in football.”

United will begin a seven-week run of 13 games today, but their current form has been boosted by some of their players doing brilliantly on international duty, with Ten Hag praising Luke Shaw in particular.

“He [Shaw] performed an excellent job!” We are overjoyed that practically all of the players performed admirably for their respective countries. “One of the characteristics of an international break is that we followed them,” he explained.

“Diogo [Dalot] scored twice, Bruno [Fernandes] had two excellent games, Casemiro was outstanding, and Fred did his job.” Luke Shaw, without a doubt; was outstanding against Germany.

“We witnessed a lot, and we’re pleased with our guys’ performances.” I believe that reflects what we are doing with Manchester United right now. This morning’s exercise was intense and high-energy. The level of performance over the international break was excellent, and that gives me hope for the future.”