Ten Hag should demand 'who is with me and who is against me?', says Joe Cole

Joe Cole has challenged Erik ten Hag to throw down the gauntlet at Manchester United and ask who stands with him.

The former Premier League winner said Ten Hag should prioritise players with the right 'character' rather than quality.

He pointed to Scott McTominay as a trustworthy individual, even if he is 'not' a 'better player than Bruno Fernandes or Casemiro'.

'If I was Erik Ten Hag and had a situation where my job was on the line I would want to know, ‘Who is with me and who is against me,’ Cole told Mail Sport ahead of United's Champions League trip to Copenhagen.

'I’d identify the characters, not necessarily the quality of players, who are with me. Like Scott McTominay. Is he a better player than Bruno Fernandes or even Casemiro? Possibly not. But you have got to get a result - I would go with the players who are with me and the staff.

'You have to pick up on things. It might be a glance, it might be the body language, or their air in training. I would say, ‘You lot, get to the side - this is my Manchester United!’

'If he wants to be a success, he needs to identify the players he can trust - and they might not be the best players. But he needs to identify the players who are going to sweat blood and tears to get a result.'

Ten Hag's men know that against Copenhagen a win is needed to try and lift them above Galatasaray in Group A, as they currently sit a point behind the Turkish champions and lost to them at Old Trafford.

McTominay has emerged as an unlikely hero, cropping up with crucial goals - he has scored three in ten games this season, two of which came in injury time to overturn the result at Brentford.

Cole praised Ten Hag's disciplinarian approach to dealing with difficult situations, such as the one with