Following Manchester United's humiliating 3-0 loss at Old Trafford on Saturday, club legend Gary Neville has insisted sacking Erik ten Hag would be "an absolute nonsense" despite the team's form. Is he right, or is it time for the Dutchman to go?
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United supporters would have hoped their dominant 2-1 Premier League win over Chelsea last week was a turning point in the season, but they encountered a sobering reality on Saturday, when they suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at the Theatre of Dreams. The Red Devils are a mess, having lost almost as many league matches as they've won since the campaign got underway. Naturally, Ten Hag's future is a hot topic at the moment, although former player Neville believes getting rid of the Dutchman would be unwise. Does he have a point? Soccer Laduma specialist journalist Kurt Buckerfield reacts to what the ex-right-back has had to say in excerpts from his latest Sky Sports column.
Neville: "I hope that somehow Erik ten Hag can turn it around this season and he can improve what's happening at the moment, or else he will be in trouble as it's inevitable. We've seen it with Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer], Jose [Mourinho] and Louis van Gaal. But there's no way they should change Ten Hag this season. This idea of sacking him is an absolute nonsense. I wouldn't be in favour of that anyway."
Kurt: The Red Devils are on the verge of being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, needing all three points against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, as well as a draw between Copenhagen and Galatasaray, to advance to the knockout stages of the competition. After that, the going will get even tougher as United travel this coming weekend to take on league leaders Liverpool. In March, Ten Hag stood hopeless on the sidelines as he watched his players slump to a 7-0 defeat at Anfield. It is expected that pressure will only continue to pile on the 53-year-old should results fail to improve, but I do agree that firing him at this point isn't the route to take. Ten Hag has enough credit in the bank following his impressive debut campaign to warrant being given more time, while there is a concern that parting ways with the Dutchman won't truly stop the rot, but instead only be a distraction from the club's responsibility in identifying and resolving those deep-seated issues. And they are deep!
Neville: "At the moment, we're biding our time until the new ownership starts. I've said it before, people say you can't blame the Glazers for this or that, you can. You absolutely put the lack of success in a sporting sense down to the owners. They haven't got a sporting director, someone strong enough to say no to a manager."
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Kurt: British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is expected to see his deal to buy a 25% stake of the club confirmed in the coming weeks, having reportedly initially hoped to arrive officially before the match against Bayern in Europe this week. While coming in at 25% might not give the INEOS CEO as much control as he might have hoped for, it is believed the 71-year-old will place most of his focus on footballing matters. Neville, with his comments, is hoping to see the incoming investor making important structural changes at the club, changes that will ultimately allow Ten Hag to spend more of his time worrying about implementing his ideas on the team. When he says "they haven't got a sporting director, someone strong enough to say no to a manager", it appears Neville is implying the board aren't competent enough, or that they don't have the experience and knowledge, to make sporting decisions. He is suggesting Ten Hag's good first season in charge resulted in the club following his lead in terms of recruitment, which hasn't appeared to work out for the players brought in earlier this year. Andre Onana's high-profile errors might have cost the team their place in the Champions League, Mason Mount has suffered multiple injury lay-offs, and young striker Rasmus Hojlund is yet to score a league goal.
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