Erik Ten Hag is under ‘massive pressure’ at Manchester United.
That is the view of former Liverpool and Aston Villa attacker Stan Collymore, who believes an abysmal start to the season has heaped the pressure on the Dutchman.
Winning just two of their first five Premier League games, as well as suffering an opening Group A 4-3 defeat in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, Manchester United once again find themselves in familiar territory.
Struggling for results and working with a disjointed squad which has included several off-field scandals, most notably that of Mason Greenwood, who, after a lengthy criminal investigation, was offloaded to Getafe during the summer transfer window, Ten Hag has had his fair share of controversies to contend with.
Nevertheless, with the former Ajax boss so far failing to improve the team and their performances, question marks over the 53-year-old’s credentials are beginning to mount, and Collymore thinks the building pressure is justified and has used Jurgen Klopp’s tenure at Liverpool as the perfect comparison.
“He’s under massive pressure. When you concede three goals in three consecutive games, it goes without saying the spotlight is going to be on you,” the former Liverpool man said in an exclusive interview.
“The signings Ten Hag has made, despite having three transfer windows, just haven’t clicked yet. You still can’t really see which players form the spine of his team. There are question marks over pretty much every senior player.
“One thing I will say about the Dutchman though – although he is undeniably under pressure, I think the Glazers will stay patient until the end of the season. Any big decision on the manager will come at the end of the season but there is a huge expectation for the side to qualify for Europe again, and the way things are going, that doesn’t look likely.”
Do you agree with Collymore? – How close is Ten Hag to being sacked as Manchester United manager? – Let us know in the comments below.
This guys ego will take them down quicker than a team full of Harry Maguires