It’s the most testing of times for Erik ten Hag at Man United presently, with his reputation being battered every week.
The Red Devils have become one of the easiest teams to play against and there’s no getting away from the fact that the three games United have in the next seven days are going to be amongst the biggest of the Dutchman’s managerial career.
First up is Fulham this weekend, followed by Copenhagen in the Champions League and Luton Town next weekend.
Three wins will almost certainly be the expectation from those matches, with 100 percent effort the bare minimum required from United’s underperforming bunch.
Even if there ends up being a reverse or two, the difficulty for the club is the expense to remove ten Hag from the position.
That’s because, according to Football Insider, it would take a whopping £15m in compensation to see ten Hag walk anytime soon.
It’s unlikely that the Glazer family are going to want to pay out that kind of money before even going out and finding another manager – who also won’t come cheap.
To some extent, the compensation payout keeping ten Hag in situ may even end up working out to United’s benefit as long as the first-team can turn the corner soon.
Arguably, if the termination clause wasn’t so big, there’s every chance the Dutchman would’ve been sent packing by now.