Man Utd stars feel ‘isolated’ Ten Hag is ‘on borrowed time’ with Van Nistelrooy ‘open’ to job
The ‘feeling in the dressing room’ at Man Utd is that Erik ten Hag ‘is on borrowed time’ with Ruud van Nistelrooy waiting in the wings, according to reports.
Man Utd lost 3-0 to Tottenham on Sunday with goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke giving Ange Postecoglou’s side the win.
It was the second Premier League home match in a row that the Red Devils have lost by the same scoreline after they were embarrassed 3-0 by arch-rivals Liverpool at the beginning of September.
The latest humiliating home defeat has seen the pressure mount once again on Ten Hag, who survived INEOS’ review over the summer with the Man Utd co-owners speaking to potential candidates to takeover from the Dutchman.
And the Daily Mail now claim that the Man Utd players reckon that Ten Hag is ‘on borrowed time’ after results so far this season.
The report claims:
‘Although Ten Hag was spared the axe in June after Ineos carried out an end-of-season review, by speaking to potential replacements before and after United’s victory in the FA Cup final a month earlier they were always at risk of undermining the manager.
‘The majority of players back Ten Hag but the feeling in the dressing room is that he is on borrowed time, and that is said to have contributed to a dip in performance levels this season. In the Premier League, even the slightest drop-off can be crucial.
‘United appeared to back Ten Hag by bringing in Dutch coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Jelle ten Rouwelaar, as well as several more signings familiar to the manager from his old club Ajax or from Holland like Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee.
‘But by hawking his job around in the summer, and only triggering the 12-month extension in his contract, the damage was done.’
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Van Nistelrooy was brought in as Ten Hag’s assistant manager over the summer but the Daily Mail add that the addition of the Man Utd legend may have ‘isolated the manager’.
‘By improving the structure around Ten Hag, United also isolated the manager as a likely cause for any failure in the system.
‘There was an acceptance in the summer that he couldn’t be judged on last season’s disappointment because of the deficiencies above and below him at the club.
‘United brought in Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and an entirely new backroom team.
‘Ten Hag is the only constant, which means there can be no excuses if things don’t go well – and they could hardly have gone worse so far.
‘The return of former Old Trafford favourite Van Nistelrooy also creates an intriguing dynamic that wasn’t there before.
‘United would have been unlikely to turn to Ten Hag’s old assistants Mitchell van der Gaag or Steve McClaren to step in as caretaker manager had they sacked him last season.
‘Van Nistelrooy, on the other hand, is an up-and-coming coach who turned down a number of managerial opportunities to rejoin his old club and would be a potential replacement, at least in the short term.’
Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen insists that Van Nistelrooy would be “open” to replacing Ten Hag if the Man Utd boss is sacked by the Old Trafford board.
Driessen told Vandaag Inside:”I think Nistelrooy is open to it. And that could be possible, because the dream candidate is of course not there. Van Nistelrooy comes from the club and is already well regarded by the players. Someone who has played football at the top, also at United.”
