Erik ten Hag backed by Man Utd for now despite mounting pressure

Erik ten Hag is expected to remain in charge for Manchester United’s crunch games against Porto and Aston Villa this week amid growing pressure on the beleaguered manager.

Scrutiny over Ten Hag’s position intensified after Sunday’s shambolic 3-0 home defeat by Tottenham exposed familiar failings and invited more caustic criticism, with Alan Shearer decrying the team as “b----- awful” and “a mess”.

It was still dark when Ten Hag drove into United’s Carrington training ground in his black Audi at 7.30am on Monday to begin the post-mortem into a result that left his side 12th in the table, already six points off the Champions League places after just six matches.

They have failed to score in three of their last four Premier League games and the Spurs debacle was their first league outing at Old Trafford since a trouncing by the same scoreline from Liverpool four weeks earlier.

United’s start to the season has caused consternation within Old Trafford but it is understood that there are no plans for an immediate change of manager and the hierarchy’s focus is on supporting Ten Hag, his staff and the players at a difficult juncture.

Sporting director Dan Ashworth, chief executive Omar Berrada, technical director Jason Wilcox and club board director Sir Dave Brailsford, the Ineos director of sport, sat glum-faced in the stands as United were pulled apart by Spurs.

The quartet of United executives were deep in conversation after the game but they have debriefs after all matches, with Bruno Fernandes’s controversial 42nd minute sending off also a topic of discussion in addition to the performance and result.

The pressure on Ten Hag is building, though, and the Dutchman needs a swift reaction from his players away to Porto in the Europa League on Thursday and then at Aston Villa in the Premier League three days later in United’s final game before the next international break.

Ten Hag insisted after the Spurs game that he did not fear being sacked. He is determined to turn things around and wants answers from the players, particularly over the first Tottenham goal which bore alarming similarities to the one they had conceded against Twente in the Europa League four days earlier that had so enraged the manager and left him questioning their mentality.

Old Trafford was only half full by the final whistle as disgruntled fans left in droves after Tottenham’s third goal in the 78th minute. Ten Hag, wearing a grey flat cap, had been spotted signing autographs for a smattering of fans who had stayed behind around 8.15pm. One young supporter was heard shouting “Ten Hag in” but not all fans share that faith.

United’s dismal 1-1 draw at home to Twente in their opening Europa League match also added to the pressure ahead of the visit to Portugal.

Ten Hag has won just one of his past nine European matches in charge of United, who must then face an in-form Villa side.

Villa’s 2-2 draw against Ipswich on Sunday ended a run of five consecutive wins for Unai Emery’s side.

Problems at both ends

United’s 3-0 win at Southampton is the only time they have got on the scoresheet in their last four league outings, which includes a goalless draw at Crystal Palace.

Only Southampton, in 19th position, have scored fewer goals than United in the league this season. Bottom club Wolves, with six, have scored one more.

They have also now conceded at least three times in eight of their last 29 matches dating back to a 4-3 win over Wolves at the start of February.

United took their total spending under Ten Hag to more than £600 million this summer with the signings of Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Leny Yoro but many of the flaws that plagued an injury ravaged side last season remain.

United spoke to half a dozen managers, including Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank and Marco Silva, at the end of last season before deciding to keep faith with Ten Hag following their FA Cup triumph and a two-and-a-half week internal review.

The club ended up triggering an option in Ten Hag’s contract to extend his deal by a further 12 months to June 2026 but United’s torrid start to the new campaign has raised fresh doubts about his future and this could yet prove to be a defining week for the former Ajax coach.

More pundits were queuing up on Monday to berate United’s football under Ten Hag, with Shearer questioning the lack of identity under the manager and Paul Scholes claiming they were an “uncoached football team”.

Gary Lineker also blamed Ten Hag’s coaching for United’s dismal start, warning it was “hard to see him turning it round”.

“What are they? Can anyone tell me, what are Man United?” Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast. “What is their system, what is their plan? Do they sit? Do they attack? Do they press? I haven’t got a clue what they are. They’re a mess.”

Shearer claimed United had left Ten Hag in “an impossible position” this season after it emerged they had considered replacing him before he won the FA Cup in May.

‘They look like lost souls’

“As soon as it came out that they were speaking to other managers last year, they did not help him at all,” Shearer added. “It was virtually going to be impossible for him.

“They’ve won the Carabao and the FA Cup, but in terms of being a force in the league, they’re miles off. They’re miles away. They’ve got no identity.”

Lineker said: “They look like lost souls. Players need to know their role, what they do in certain situations. And, for quite a considerable time, it doesn’t look like they know their roles. That surely comes down to coaching. Footballers don’t just go, ‘I’m not trying’.

“It’s hard to see him [Ten Hag] turning it round now.”

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand echoed similar sentiments. “We were terrible,” he said on X. “It was a terrible kind of representation of who we are and what we are right now. Giving the ball away constantly.

“I’m ranting here but I can’t help it. I’ve sat and watched the game and just thought ‘What the hell are we?’”