Ten Hag's Man Utd future decided as Martial and Rashford take centre stage
It's not a good look to lose to one of your top four rivals, and it is an even worse one to lose to your top four rivals while berating one of your forwards from the side of the pitch and then criticising another one at full-time.
Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford were the objects of Erik ten Hag's dissatisfaction at Newcastle United on Saturday night, when the Manchester United manager could barely contain himself.
His side's 1-0 loss was their 10th in all competitions this season, and reopened the debate about Ten Hag's future at the club. Do Martial and Rashford's reactions show he's on borrowed time? Should he be given the opportunity to turn things around? Just what is his actual style of play? We asked the Mirror Football team for their views.
Ben Husband
The game is up for Ten Hag. Whether United sack him now or in the summer is largely irrelevant, either way they will have a new manager by the start of next season.
Look at the contrast between United's richly assembled squad and the injury ravaged Tottenham team that was so impressive at the Etihad. One team is being encouraged to play expressive, free-flowing football which excites the fans and gives reason for optimism. The other is Manchester United.
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Ten Hag is seemingly being given a chance solely because he won a tournament none of his major rivals were that fussed about playing in. His transfer record is appalling, the football is appalling and the expressions on United's players said it all.
They aren't without blame though, Ten Hag will become the latest to lose their job thanks to a group of players unable to sustain any positive momentum. He may have been thrown under the bus. But either way he needs to be moved on.
Ten Hag continues to see his side underperform (Getty Images)Daniel Orme
Manchester United’s response in the crunch times of the season have been enough for me to see that it’s probably time for Ten Hag to go. So often this term, the Red Devils have failed to rise up and be counted when it matters most.
They’ve been embarrassed one too many times now. They’ve already lost six Premier League games this season and are on track to comfortably beat the nine they lost last term. It just seems as though Ten Hag is incapable of getting the bunch of players at his disposal back on track. The squad’s failure to perform for Ten Hag is evidenced even more in the Champions League.
Since their defeat to Galatarasay at Old Trafford, pretty much every game since then has been a must win. They’ve won just once. It isn’t good enough. Whether a new manager will inspire the upturn in fortunes that they desperately need is a different matter entirely. But for a club the size of Man United with the ambitions they harbour, it doesn’t seem like Ten Hag is up to the task.
John Cross
This debate is only happening because of Manchester United’s performances. And if you look at United’s recent games, then you have to wonder whether the players are fighting for him.
There has to be an element of confidence here. Also, United’s results were excellent last month and they shot up the Premier League table. Harry Maguire was in top form and United looked to be back. Then you had Galatasaray and Newcastle, and it feels like they are back to square one. No-one is suffering more than Marcus Rashford.
I’m not sure if ten Hag has lost the dressing room yet. That would be a seriously bad look on the players and early for any manager. But the bigger issue for me is how United’s players view Ten Hag and the way he has handled certain issues, like Maguire or even David de Gea.
Maguire deserved better and yet still showed character to come back. De Gea clearly thought he was staying, other players liked him and yet they did a u-turn, let him go and signed a keeper for £45m who immediately bawled out Maguire. Players frozen out brutally. Does the manager still have the respect of the dressing room? That’s the question for me. We’ll soon find out.
Marcus Rashford's Manchester United form has nosedived (Malcolm Mackenzie/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)David McDonnell
On the eve of the Newcastle game, Erik ten Hag was asked if he understood if some players were losing confidence in Andre Onana after his latest costly blunders. “No, that will not happen,” said Ten Hag. “This dressing room is together. Football is a game of mistakes and everyone can make mistakes.”
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But actions speak louder than words and United's abject performance in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at St James' Park smacked of a group of players who have given up playing for Ten Hag. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial's lacklustre displays suggested a reluctance to put a shift in for their manager, which has been the pattern at United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired a decade ago.
Player power and entitlement ultimately saw off David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Ten Hag may be about to suffer the same fate as his predecessors.
Ten Hag made it his priority to restore discipline to the United squad, but there are signs the players are pushing back on that hardline approach by refusing to give their all for the manager. Time will tell if he has lost the United dressing-room, with the three upcoming home games - Chelsea, Bournemouth and a must-win Champions League tie against Bayern Munich - shaping to be the defining point of their season, and potentially Ten Hag's future at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag has been angry with Anthony Martial's lacklustre displays (PETER POWELL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Does Erik ten Hag have a long-term future at Man Utd? Have your say in the comments section
Tommy Wathen
Since Sir Alex Ferguson's reign at Manchester United came to an end, we've seen so many managers end up in a similar position to where Erik ten Hag currently finds himself - edging closer to the job centre.
The Red Devils need a huge result against Bayern Munich to avoid a Champions League exit before Christmas and the defeat to Newcastle in the Premier League over the weekend leaves Ten Hag's side lagging behind in seventh position. His bold actions early in his tenure that saw Cristiano Ronaldo leave for Saudi Arabia seemed to be the Dutchman finally stamping some authority over the Old Trafford dressing room, but since then, things just keep getting worse for the boss.
He is failing to get the best out of Marcus Rashford. His ongoing ordeal with Jadon Sancho is totally embarrassing and his team selections often leave Man Utd fans scratching their heads. Is it all Ten Hag's fault? Absolutely not, but he'll need more than a Christmas miracle to gain back control of the Man Utd dressing room and win the fans over again.
Mike Walters
Has Erik ten Hag lost the dressing room? Come off it. Turn left out of the Old Trafford dugout, straight up the touchline, into the tunnel by the corner flag and it's easy enough to find once you're under the Stretford End.
Has he lost his players' confidence? Sadly, it looks like he has - because some of Manchester United's dismal performances lately are right back in the drifting, rudderless days of Ralf Rangnick, the last knockings of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign or, for older fans, the nightmare of Frank O'Farrell.
Marcus Rashford has become a symbol of United's unhappy lot, and it's easy to spot the danger signs. Even when he scored from the penalty spot in the 3-0 win at Everton, his body language was subdued bordering on sullen. And in the hopeless 1-0 defeat at Newcastle, Rashford was a negligible threat up front and, at times, his tracking back smacked of a fed-up foot soldier going through the motions because he doesn't believe in the field general's tactics on the battlefield.
Ten Hag did well to steady the ship after Cristiano Ronaldo tossed his grenades across the pont deck last season, and he deserves credit for breaking United's six-year drought without a trophy. But the club doesn't just need Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £1.4 billion investment - it needs an enema. And if that means yet another fresh start, with Ten Hag paying the price for inconsistency of performances and results, it may have to be that way.
One thing is for sure; They are no further down the track towards restoring the glory days at Old Trafford than they were two years ago when Solskjaer walked the plank.
Jim Ratcliffe's investment in United can't come soon enough (PA)Mark Jones
Unai Emery's Aston Villa. Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham. Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton. They're all good fun aren't they? We like watching them.
All three have clear ways of playing, be it with Villa's high line, Tottenham's bravery on the ball or Brighton's ever-evolving and revolutionary pressing game. Whatever it is they do they do it clearly, and all under managers who have been at their clubs for less amount of time than Erik ten Hag has been at Manchester United, where he has enacted a style of play which... anyone? No? Thought not.
That isn't to say Ten Hag is doing a terrible job of course, he is within five points of Villa and Spurs and two ahead of Brighton after all, but if there are misgivings about their manager among United's players then they need only look around them in the table for situations that look a lot more fun.
Has the manager lost a dressing room sprinkled with plenty of players he's coached before? Probably not in its entirety yet. But he's certainly not inspiring them either.
Ange Postecoglou and Unai Emery have clear ways of playing with Tottenham and Aston Villa respectively (AFP via Getty Images)Neil McLeman
Caretaker boss Ralf Rangnick was shocked by the toxic dressing room culture at Old Trafford during his brief reign. And Erik ten Hag has had to deal with the same backbiting and lack of basic professionalism at one of English football's great clubs.
The Dutchman faced a choice. Accept such sloppy standards or challenge the guilty players, with Marcus Rashford's weekend performance personifying all that is wrong at Manchester United after a decade without the Premier League title. If Ten Haag "loses the dressing room" by insisting seventh place in the Premier League is not good enough, then that will be a price worth paying.
Manchester United face a choice too: stick with the current coach and clear out the slackers or bring in a replacement who will tolerate forwards not tracking back and not working to the gameplan. Do you think Pep Guardiola would tolerate the recent displays of Rashford and Anthony Martial?
Blaming and sacking ten Hag - and starting again after backing the former Ajax in the transfer market - would be a waste of 18 months and millions more in the transfer market. He needs to be backed.
Andy Dunn
IF losing the Old Trafford dressing-room means Erik ten Hag has ‘lost’ Anthony Martial, ‘lost’ Jadon Sancho and ‘lost’ the current version of Marcus Rashford, then Manchester United fans should be dancing in the streets of Stretford. Perhaps Ten Hag needs to lose a few more.
And if Martial and Rashford are unhappy with being hooked during Manchester United’s dismal display at St James’ Park on Saturday night, then their team-mates should have a word with the pair. It is time the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire reminded others of their work-rate responsibilities because there are several squad members not pulling their weight.
And when considering the job Ten Hag is doing, let’s remind ourselves of the need for balance. Yep, the performance in the loss to Newcastle was poor but United should have won at Galatasaray and had previously won comfortably at a febrile Goodison Park.
This season, Ten Hag has won the same number of Premier League matches as the sainted Ange Postecoglou and the same number as the celebrated Eddie Howe. And, no matter how much unrest it might cause, if he sorts out a few bad eggs in the dressing-room, he will win a lot more.
Bruno Fernandes could be doing more as United captain (Malcolm Mackenzie/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock)David Anderson
I’m not sure Erik ten Hag has lost the dressing room, but it is clear his Manchester United reign is coming to an end. When is the only question, and he may even go as early as next week if United fail to make the knockout stages of the Champions League.
United judge themselves on winning Premier Leagues and Champions Leagues and despite Ten Hag’s success last season in lifting the Carabao Cup and finishing third, they have clearly gone backwards. Worryingly, Saturday’s loss at Newcastle was their 10th defeat of the campaign and they have lost every big game they have played this season.
United do not want to appear to be indulging in knee-jerk reaction sackings, especially with so much upheaval behind the scenes as Jim Ratcliffe takes up his 25 per cent stake and appoints the people he wants in key football positions. That may allow ten Hag a stay of execution, but his fate is sealed.
Ten Hag faces some crucial games ahead (Richard Lee/REX/Shutterstock)Tom Victor
Before debating whether Erik ten Hag has lost the dressing room, we can surely agree this shouldn’t be possible for a manager who has rushed to fill his squad with familiar faces and been given the green light to add the exact players he feels he needs. It’s one thing to struggle after being the one new element around a relatively settled squad, as was the case when David Moyes took the United job a decade ago, but everything in Ten Hag’s tenure has been geared to this not happening again… and yet here we are.
There was a feeling that the return of important players like Luke Shaw would help United pick things up, but we’re still waiting for the time being. It almost feels like a race against time - can Lisandro Martinez return to fitness before results tail off enough for those in charge to lose patience with the man who signed him?
Possibly the main thing in Ten Hag’s favour is the lack of an obvious replacement. That, along with last season’s results showing there is another way under the Dutchman, means he probably has a little longer.
Does Erik ten Hag have a long-term future at Man Utd? Have your say in the comments section
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