Gary Neville believes Manchester United will sack Erik ten Hag before the end of the season if the situation does not improve.
On Sunday, United suffered their second defeat in nine days after being beaten 3-0 at home by arch-rivals Liverpool.
Ten Hag’s side started the season with a 1-0 win over Fulham, but then lost 2-1 at Brighton.
The Dutchman was widely expected to lose his job at the end of last season – United’s worst ever Premier League season in terms of finishing position (8th) and goal difference (-1) – but he was saved by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
However, Neville fears that club owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe – who was pictured on Sunday with his head in his hands – will soon lose his patience.
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag pictured after his team’s 3-0 defeat to Liverpool
“Every manager who comes to this club has had a tough time,” former United captain Neville said during his post-match analysis for Sky Sports.
‘And there’s a feeling today of, are we going to go through the same thing again? But I think it’s time for a bit of a rest, it’s an international break, which United probably need badly.
‘But Erik ten Hag will have to get the club into a position where he can challenge for the Champions League before Christmas, otherwise he will be in trouble.
“He knows that. You know, he’s been influenced to change his team, his staff. He brought in two new coaches in the summer, which isn’t always ideal. So there’s a new message coming in, even though he’s been here for two years. There are new technical directors, CEOs. There’s a lot of change at the club.
“There are a lot of staff who have been here a long time who are also leaving. So look, there would have been some pain, if you want to call it that, to interfere with the Glazer ownership. We see that pain here today.
‘It’s not going to change quickly. It’s a sobering day for United but one that just requires a bit of calm for me because we want to change ownership, and we have, and we have, and there are some things happening and we need to let it sink in.’
Former United captain Gary Neville was part of the Sky Sports pundit team for Sunday’s match
Jamie Carragher compared Ten Hag’s situation to that of Brendan Rodgers shortly before he was sacked by Liverpool’s ownership group FSG in 2015.
The ex-Liverpool captain said: ‘What we saw there, we saw last season with teams who just went for the back four of Manchester United. I’ve seen it with Liverpool, actually. You go back to before Jurgen Klopp came in, and there was talk about losing Brendan Rodgers at the end of a season. He (Liverpool owner John Henry) didn’t know what to do and he kept him, and he changed his coaching staff – exactly what Eric ten Hag has done here.’
Rodgers was fired in October of the 2015–16 season.
Carragher continued: ‘Erik ten Hag said in his interview: “We’ll see where we are at the end of the season.” And yes, it’s early days after three games. But I’d be surprised if he’s still in charge at the end of the season.’
After claiming that Ratcliffe and the United directors did not sack Ten Hag in the summer because ‘they didn’t have the guts’, Carragher claimed their lack of action ‘probably delayed the inevitable’.
United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe pictured (second row, left) with his head in his hands on Sunday
Neville replied: ‘I don’t agree with the nerve at the end. They use the word bottle there on the portal. That’s why we’re arguing for 20 minutes. Well, he said the owner bottled it, not to get rid of him. Oh my God. How can you say they bottled it? They were really open about looking for a manager to replace Erik ten Hag, they couldn’t find one.
‘Bayern Munich had a few months to replace [Thomas] Tuchel and found it difficult and ended up hiring someone who was their third or fourth choice. Liverpool had six months to replace Klopp and Arne Slot was third choice. It wasn’t easy to find a manager for Manchester United at the end of last season, or any club in Europe.’
Carragher hit back: ‘You openly admit they were looking for a new manager… exactly, because they are looking for someone else… so they don’t want this manager. If you are happy with your manager, you don’t start talking to other managers.’
Neville fears that United will continue to struggle to attract the world’s best footballers to Old Trafford, regardless of whether Ten Hag stays or leaves, as he believes the club has become a ‘players’ graveyard’.
‘The biggest problem Man United have is that there is no motivation at the moment for the best players in Europe anyway, there just isn’t any. Over the last 10 years it has been a graveyard for players, just in general, who have come to the club with a big reputation and haven’t done well, whether it’s home-grown players, national players from Great Britain or international players.
‘When I came back from Valencia, I think in April [of 2016] I came to a game. It was one of Louis van Gaal’s last games, and I saw the stadium was half empty during a game, and they’re playing Crystal Palace on a Tuesday night. I thought, “That’s a signal.”
‘Today there are 25,000 [fans inside the 74,000-capacity stadium] with five minutes to go… It’s a real problem for Erik ten Hag that it can’t go on. And I think you have a few months to get used to these new players coming in, [Rasmus] Hojlund, returning, [Manuel] Ugarte is coming. And I think they will judge it then. He can’t be eighth at the end of November and in December he has to be in the top four or five. He has to…’
