Manchester, Oct 18 (IANS): Manchester United, for the second season in a row, are undergoing their worst start ever to a Premier League season which has seen the team sit in 14th place after seven games played with two wins, two draws and three losses.

With many reports suggesting that the United board are discussing Erik Ten Hag’s future at the club, the Dutch head coach stated the stories regarding his future are ‘fairytales'.

"Noise is only coming from some of you in the media, creating stories and fairy tales, and bringing lies. Journalists didn’t believe me. I saw the reports. Of course, we are unhappy with the position where we are. Ultimately, internally it is quiet and composed. We stick to the plan and are very convinced it will be a success," said Ten Hag to reporters in the pre-game conference.

This followed after United’s executive committee (ex-co) was reported to be holding an emergency meeting, which included co-owners, Jim Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer, to decide whether Ten Hag has a future at the club after the side only won two of their opening seven games.

On other fronts, there is good news for United fans concerning Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad (Ivory Coast) and Alejandro Garnacho (Argentina), who have all trained after being forced to miss their respective countries' international fixtures.

However, Kobbie Mainoo, who was shortlisted in the Top 20 for the Golden Boy award on Thursday, has joined the list of absentees which also includes Harry Maguire.

"Kobbie and Harry are out for a couple of weeks (but) Mazraoui is good news," Erik said. "He faced an illness but he returned on the training pitch and he's available for selection tomorrow.

"(Shaw and Malacia?) They are back but we can't force their return. We have to do it very carefully because we don't want a return and then they quickly drop out. So, we do it very carefully, but, of course, we hope to do it as soon as possible because this team needs a left full-back, that's for sure,” he added.