Ten Hag sacked ‘by Christmas’ as Man Utd legend sees ‘no change whatsoever’

Erik ten Hag will be “gone by Christmas” as the Manchester United boss has implemented “no change whatsoever” from last season.

Ten Hag was handed a one-year extension in the summer by new owner and head of football operations Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose team conducted a thorough strategic review of the club and decided the Dutchman remained the best man to take them forward.

That’s despite United finishing eighth, their worst ever finish in the Premier League, with their 14 league defeats also a club low.

Ten Hag did though win his second trophy in two seasons, beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final having claimed the Carabao Cup in his first campaign in charge.

It was perhaps that result which swung things in his favour, combined with a lack of alternative options that wouldn’t have cost the club significant money to prise from other clubs.

But things haven’t gone well at the start of the new season, with United losing two of their opening three fixtures, to Brighton and bitter rivals Liverpool, who eased to a 3-0 victory at Old Trafford on Sunday.

That result restarted the Ten Hag sack chat, with many pundits now believing – if they didn’t before – that it’s a case of when he will be shown the door, not if.

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd have an ‘insecure wild-eyed’ manager but still ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool
👉 Ten Hag sack ‘matter of weeks’ as Man Utd owner Ratcliffe identifies three ‘possible successors’
👉 Man Utd get their Beastie Boy while Liverpool star may never recover from latest ‘fierce dig’

And former United striker Teddy Sheringham, who won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and scored one of the two injury time goals to win the 1999 Champions League final, insists the Red Devils have to send Ten Hag packing as he believes “there’s been no change whatsoever” despite the club spending over £200m on new players in the summer.

He said: “When you’re finishing eighth in the Premier League, that’s quite clearly not good enough, for Man United. Full stop. End of story, for me. You’ve got to change what’s going on.

“When you look at the inconsistency of last season, and that has followed on, without a shadow of the doubt in the first three games of this season… you can see there’s been no change whatsoever.

“Different players, maybe. But still no change in the philosophy, and the way Erik ten Hag wants to play. Look, I don’t want to see people getting sacked. It’s not nice to say that people shouldn’t be in certain positions, but he shouldn’t be there. It’s not good enough for Man United.

“Do I think the manager will be there at the end of the season? No, I don’t. I think he’ll be gone by Christmas.”

Ten Hag has time to prepare for United’s next game against Southampton during the international break, with Barnsley to come shortly after in the third round of the Carabao Cup.