Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has revealed how manager Erik ten Hag is dealing with the prospect of possibly being relieved of his duties in the coming days or weeks.
United are currently in 13th position in the Premier League after their devastating 0-3 loss at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. The Red Devils were mostly second-best during the match and were rightly beaten in front of their home support. That result has led to renewed speculation over Ten Hag’s future at United.
A report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that while club bosses have no immediate desire to sack the Dutch coach, they will not hesitate to permanently part ways with him if results don’t drastically improve.
Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic recently suggested that Ten Hag has the upcoming matches vs. Porto and Aston Villa in the Europa League and Premier League respectively to save his job. If he loses both, there is a strong chance he will be let go during the October international break.
Speaking to Viaplay (via Metro), De Ligt was asked whether he feels the pressure is getting to Ten Hag. The former Bayern Munich centre-back replied, “No, not really. He remains calm and keeps doing the same things. He keeps motivating the players.”
De Ligt is one of the multiple players at United, who Ten Hag successfully worked with at Ajax. In his sit-down, De Ligt appeared to admit that Ten Hag is struggling to acclimatise to the higher standard of opposition in England’s top flight.
On whether Ten Hag is the same in Manchester as he was in Amsterdam, the 25-year-old remarked, “Yes, for the most part.” “But the resilience in the Eredivisie is very different than here in the Premier League.” “Every club here has a manager at a very high tactical level, and you have to be able to respond to that.”
Porto vs. United kicks off on Thursday at 20:00 BST.
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