Manchester United focus on Porto clash as pressure mounts on Erik ten Hag

30 Sep 2024, 11:38 by Press Association · The42

MANCHESTER UNITED SOURCES have insisted the sole focus is on Thursday’s Europa League match away to Porto amid speculation surrounding head coach Erik ten Hag’s future.

The Red Devils succumbed to a miserable 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, piling pressure on the Dutchman and testing the patience of Ineos, which now controls football operations at Old Trafford under its chairman and chief executive Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Speculation is mounting that Ten Hag’s days at United are now numbered, despite the club putting their faith in him over the summer and extending his contract.

However, those close to the club insisted it was business as usual on Monday morning, with the focus simply trained on the next match in Portugal, as well as Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa before the October international break.

United have been described as a “mess” by former England striker Alan Shearer, while BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker felt the players looked like “lost souls” against Tottenham.

Shearer, speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, said: “Can anyone tell me what Manchester United are?

“What is their system? What is their plan? Do they sit, do they attack, do they press? I don’t know. I don’t have a clue what they are. They are a mess.”

Co-presenter Micah Richards said United had been inconsistent, to which Shearer replied: “Inconsistent? They’re 12th in the league. That means they’re not inconsistent, they’re bloody awful. That means they’re consistently not very good.”

Shearer said United’s players could not “hide behind” Ten Hag, but Lineker said: “It’s hard to see him turning this around now. He must be under terrible pressure. Who knows what the owners think? They look like lost souls.”

Former United defender Gary Neville, now a TV pundit, tore into his former team, describing Sunday as a “shocking and sobering” day for Ten Hag’s men.

“It was an absolutely disgusting performance in that first half in effort, quality, everything you would want in a football team,” he said on Sky Sports. “There will be a lot of questions to answer for that group (of players) and the manager in the next week.”

Bruno Fernandes’ red card was one of the lowlights of the meek surrender, but the Portuguese star was determined to move on and concentrate on the midweek trip to his home city.

“It’s a side that always does really well in Europe, we have to be aware of that,” Fernandes told MUTV.

“It’s a team that has a great spirit, (are) improving a lot in the last few games, even if they lost the last game in the Europa League.

“We expect a really difficult game there, but we go there to win because it’s everything that we have to think about.”

United were linked with a host of big name bosses over the summer, including outgoing England manager Gareth Southgate and ex-Bayern Munich and Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel, but ultimately stuck with Ten Hag, whose cause was helped by United rounding off the season with FA Cup success against Manchester City.

The Dutchman was given a contract extension to 2026 but the club have endured a dreadful start to the new campaign, and he is now odds-on with bookmakers to be the next Premier League manager to be sacked.