´Mourinho will be successful and so will we´ – Man Utd boss Ten Hag

Erik ten Hag believes both he and former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be successful this season, knowing they both must continue to prove their worth.

Ten Hag faces one of his Old Trafford predecessors on Thursday when United visit Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in the Europa League.

The current United boss is a man under pressure after a difficult start to the season, despite delivering silverware in each of his first two seasons in England.

Those were the Red Devils’ first trophies since Mourinho was in charge, with the Portuguese leaving Manchester in 2018 and subsequently working at Tottenham, Roma and now Fenerbahce.

Fener are now fourth in Turkey’s Super Lig, eight points off the pace, albeit with a game in hand.

But Ten Hag has faith in Mourinho, just as he does in his own ability to turn United’s fortunes around.

“Mourinho and I, we won a lot of trophies the last years, but you have to prove yourself every year,” the Dutchman said. “When you don’t win, we are always under criticism.

“We know that we are experienced enough. Professional football is about winning games, and when you don’t win, the criticism is coming.

“But at the end of the day, it’s about how you are at the end of the year.

“Mourinho is so experienced, he will lead this team to its best form, he will be successful and so will we.

“We are convinced we are in the right direction, that we follow the right path and we will achieve what our targets are.”

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Fenerbahce fell into the Europa League after losing a Champions League qualifier to Lille but have at least earned four points from their first two matches in Europe’s secondary competition.

United have made hard work of winning two points across the same period, their European form no more impressive than domestic results, which have them 12th in the Premier League.

Going back to last season’s miserable Champions League campaign, United are winless in five European matches, their worst run since the 1980s.

“Man United didn’t win in Europe [since Mourinho’s Europa League win] and it’s also for us a target, what we want to achieve, and we have a big opportunity this season,” Ten Had added.

“We have the quality, we have to win games. It’s a new set-up, we are two games under way, we have two points, we know what we have to do and win games.

“This season we just started, we have two draws. First season, I think we won a lot of European games. Last season, obviously it was for domestic and also in Europe a difficult journey.

“But we are confident, we are confident we are capable to do this, to win games in the Premier League and in Europe.”