UNITED DECIDE TO SACK MANAGER ERIK TEN HAG AFTER FA CUP FINAL ON SATURDAY
Manchester United have made the decision to sack manager Erik ten Hag following the FA Cup final against Manchester City on Saturday, as first reported by The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg.
United boss Erik ten Hag has been on the hot seat all season during what’s been a disastrous campaign for Manchester United. The team raced out of the Champions League in the group stage and recorded its worst ever finish in Premier League history (8th).
United also lost a club record 14 Premier League matches and not only finished with a negative goal difference but also finished 31 points shy of the champions, Manchester City. A decision to part ways thus doesn’t come as a surprise, although it would be the most significant move made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his allies ever since INEOS took a minority stake at the club.
Ten Hag has reiterated how his success this season was hampered by his lack of a fully fit squad, with most of his starting players missing time due to injuries this year. The Dutchman, who joined the team two years ago from Ajax Amsterdam, finished third in the Premier League last year and won the EFL Cup.
According to the BBC, United suffered more injuries this season (45) than any other Premier League team with Chelsea (43), Newcastle United (41) and Brighton (41) only coming close to the Manchester outfit.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was asked about the speculation surrounding Erik ten Hag’s future at United this week and didn’t shy away from broaching the subject. “In the big clubs like United, City, when you don’t win, always you’re in trouble,” said the Manchester City boss. “So, it’s not [a] secret. And I’m telling you this, when we have done what we have done, I would be in trouble if we don’t win. So, this is not a big issue.”
“[Ten Hag] has done very, very good things and I have huge respect for his job in the past, and now at United. I completely agree when I listen to him, to say that they were not a full squad, they were not all-squad ready all season, had a lot of injuries. They should think [of] the reason why and I think this is the most important thing. They have to think about it because even my case, always, I’m focused on that, you have to be fit, fit. Otherwise you cannot use the players.”
“They [United] have a lot of problems. [And] when that happened, the manager suffered a lot because the squad, I think it’s really good. The problem is, when they’re injured, you cannot use them and this is a big, big disadvantage.”
“I am just focusing on the job I have to do and that is, first, win the game on Saturday and then we are in the project and keep going in the project,” said Erik ten Hag on Thursday. “Until Saturday I only think about this game. It’s all about trophies but you need an opportunity to win a trophy. So last 10 years, not so many trophies in this club but we have an opportunity to win two trophies in two years.”
“I came here to win trophies. Saturday I have the next opportunity and we achieved this. We earned this opportunity as a team and now we have to go for it. At the same time in the last two years, of course every season you review it and then we will see where we are in the project and the things that we have to change.”
“We [and the hierarchy] spoke lately about it. Underneath there are very good things, players coming up and players developing, values coming up and at the same time we have on Saturday a big opportunity to win the next trophy. The FA Cup final is a big event and we are there, even when the season is not going our way we are there. We have an opportunity and it’s never been easy, but we have to go for it and we will go for it.”
Should Manchester United decide to move on from Ten Hag, the club is likely to replace him with 2020/21 Champions League winner, Thomas Tuchel.
According to The Guardian, the former Chelsea boss is the favorite to land the management job at Old Trafford and could be given a fair shot despite his lack of recent success with perennial German champions Bayern Munich. Tuchel left the club after just one season in which the team struggled to compete in all four competitions and finished third in the Bundesliga.
The new owners at United, however, are also big fans of Ipswich Town manager and former United first-team coach Kieran McKenna and wouldn’t be opposed to bringing the 38-year-old back to the Theatre of Dreams. Amongst the other candidates that could be up for the United job include Brentford’s Thomas Frank, England manager Gareth Southgate, who is preparing his side for the EUROs next month, and Mauricio Pochettino, who left Chelsea on Tuesday after just one season with the club.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Ardfern. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.