Situation not ‘toxic’ at Manchester United - Scott McTominay says players are ‘firmly behind’ Erik ten Hag

Scott McTominay says Manchester United's players are “firmly behind” manager Erik ten Hag after admitting there has been a “toxic” atmosphere at the club in the past.

Ten Hag's position is under scrutiny following a 3-0 Premier League defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. United head into Tuesday night’s UEFA Champions League encounter with Bayern Munich needing a win to have any chance of qualifying from their group, but also need Copenhagen and Galatasaray to draw.

Both those games are live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

Despite their inconsistent form, United still sit sixth in the table and are in contention to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season. Ten Hag’s side could also continue playing in Europe in the new year by finishing third in their group, which would be good enough for the UEFA Europa League play-off round.

McTominay says the former Ajax boss is the right man for the job, but hinted there have been times in the past where a manager has lost parts of the dressing room - without naming names.

"It is the players' responsibility, first and foremost," said the Scotland international.

"We have had many amazing players and right now we are at the stage where we have big characters in the dressing room.

"It is not just a case of like [with] some of the other managers where it has been a little bit toxic at times - the boys are firmly behind the manager and that’s the be all and end all.

"We've got amazing coaching staff as well. People can get lost in translation and carried away with what the players think and what they say behind closed doors. We just want to do well for the football club, and it’s as simple as that.”

Ten Hag is United’s eighth manager - permanent, interim or caretaker - since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013. Since then, David Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick have all come and gone.

United’s 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth came three days after a 2-1 win over Chelsea, which itself followed a 1-0 loss at Newcastle. McTominay says they need to figure out how to pick up more wins on a regular basis.

"We are inconsistent as a team, we have not been naive to that," he said.

"We have spoken with the coaching staff about it. The schedule has been relentless, but we can't use that as an excuse. We have to come together as a group and find out the answers to that.

"In the Premier League, every team is super athletic, every team in the Champions League can run, we need to match that and more when you play for this club.

"The manager can't do too much from the sidelines, it needs to come from the players."

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