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Former Liverpool player turned pundit, Danny Murphy has claimed that if Manchester United want to get their season back on track, they need to sack Erik ten Hag immediately.
Writing in his column for The Mail on Sunday, the pundit stated “if United want to dine at English football’s top table again, Ten Hag is not the manager to take them there”.
The talkSPORT pundit asserted that he cannot see how Ten Hag’s men can compete with the Manchester Citys, Liverpools and Arsenals of this world while the Dutchman is in charge. He wrote that “I don’t see a team that’s progressing after a good first season. I see one that’s regressing”.
It is hard to argue with his logic as Bournemouth’s triumph at Old Trafford was the 11th time United have lost this season and we haven’t even hit mid-December yet.
The former midfielder commented that the fact people just shrug their shoulders when Man United lose at home to a team like the Cherries highlights the extent of the problems at the club.
Murphy did admit that it wasn’t all the manager’s fault, as he stated “many of the problems at United lie above and beyond him” and too many of the players need to “look at themselves in the mirror”.
Nonetheless, the former Crewe Alexandra man declared that Ten Hag has had a massive influence on recruitment at the club since taking over in 2022 and not one of the signings can be deemed a success yet. Whilst this may be harsh on Lisandro Martinez, all of last season’s success stories like Christian Eriksen and Casemiro have regressed badly and have been injured and linked with moves away from the club.
This season’s signings have hardly gone to plan either. Mason Mount has been constantly injured and when he has played, has looked out of place. Andre Onana has had many poor outings and Rasmus Hojlund, despite enjoying fine form in Europe, is yet to score in the Premier League.
Murphy also claimed that the players lack motivation and tactical instruction. He wrote, “every time I see United play, they’re cut wide open and are too easy to play against. Whenever they face a half-decent side, they lose”.
The former Liverpool man did acknowledge Ten Hag’s recent Manager of the Month award but asserted that these wins against low ranked teams “masked clear problems”. He also believed the Chelsea result “papered over the cracks” and was more to do with the West Londoners’ own issues than the Red Devils turning a corner.
After the defeat to Bournemouth, Murphy mused that a big loss at Anfield could see the end of Ten Hag at United. The pundit claimed that he thought the manager would get to the end of the season but recent events have made him rethink his prediction.
He asserted, “if they want to get to where they want to be, a change probably needs to happen now and let a new manager work out what he needs to do”.
The former England international stated that while the Dutch coach is a nice guy, he never had to manager superstars at Ajax and that the United job probably came too soon for him. Murphy accused Ten Hag of learning on the job and being unable to cope with the pressure that comes from managing such a huge club.
The talkSport pundit did add a caveat that the Old Trafford side should only sack him if they have a plan in place but bluntly stated, “it’s clear this manager isn’t the right man for United”.
Despite Murphy’s pessimism, many United fans feel that despite underperforming, Ten Hag is the least of United’s problems and sacking him is not the solution. Until clarity is brought by the INEOS partial buyout, it is hard to predict what will happen at the Mancunian club.
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