Erik ten Hag warns his players they must show the right attitude in every game or be ‘killed’ after Man United bounced back from Newcastle debacle by beating Chelsea

Erik Ten Hag has warned that Manchester United will be ‘killed’ if they can’t show the same attitude for every game that they did against Chelsea.

United bounced back from an abject defeat at Newcastle on Saturday to beat Mauricio Pochettino’s side 2-1 with a vibrant display at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.

Ten Hag was delighted with the performance but now wants to see the same from his players in every game. ‘When you are not on top form on the day, you get beaten,’ he said. ‘You need to be at your best. When you are not, you get killed. We know that and we need the right attitude every game.

‘We are pleased with the result and the performance. We deserved this. We wanted to send this message to crowd but this is also our style. In the first 30 minutes we did it perfectly on the pitch.

‘I think it was enjoyable for our fans to watch us play and that is what we want every game, but we are not robots.

Man United beat Chelsea 2-1 after an entertaining encounter at Old Trafford on Wednesday 

Scott McTominay scored a brace to take his tally for the season in all competition to six goals

‘You see this team is in a good direction and progressing. We are pleased with that. Sometimes you have a bad performance but when you stick together and have the right attitude you have to collect points. You see how we played, dominating the opponent in and out of possession. I was very pleased with how the team played.’

Asked about reports of dressing-room unrest at United, Ten Hag replied: ‘I don’t care about the noise. They are used to it. It was the same at Ajax but in a smaller country so less people.’

When it was put to him that United are now only three points behind champions Manchester City during a season in which they have been in crisis, he countered: ‘Crisis? Not for us. We are on a journey and we have to be calm. We are going in the right direction and we don’t get distracted.

‘We are very critical of ourselves. We are not satisfied, we always want to do better. We want to keep going in this process. The season is long and we have to improve but this team is good enough to be successful.’