- United have now suffered 13 defeats this season compared to only 11 victories
- Ladyman and Sutton believe Ten Hag’s job will come under serious scrutiny
- ‘He’s a dead man walking’: How can Erik ten Hag re-establish control before Sir Jim Ratcliffe stamps his mark? Listen to It’s All Kicking Off
Erik ten Hag ‘looks like a dead man walking’ as Manchester United’s historically bad season continues, according to Ian Ladyman and Chris Sutton on It’s All Kicking Off.
United have now suffered 13 defeats this season in all competitions following their 2-0 defeat at West Ham on Saturday, compared to only 11 wins.
You have to go all the way back to 1930 – when United ended up finishing bottom of the First Division – for the last time they lost more games before Christmas.
United slumped to eighth following defeat at the London Stadium and their Champions League and Carabao Cup exits mean it has been a miserable first half of the season at Old Trafford.
There will be no let-up with high-flying Aston Villa the next side to face them on Boxing Day.
With petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe completing his £1.25billion buy-out of a 25 per cent stake in United, Sutton and Ladyman fear Ten Hag’s days in the job may be numbered.
‘You and I have defender Erik ten Hag and stuck up for him, talking about the good things he’s done at Manchester United and the need for patience,’ Mail Sport football editor Ladyman told a festive edition of It’s All Kicking Off.
‘I tell you what, right now, in advance of Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS investment arriving at Old Trafford pretty soon, he’s a dead man walking.
‘He looks like a dead man walking to me now and I hate to say that. He’s sleepwalking, he looks to me like he’s sleepwalking towards the door.’
Sutton agreed, saying: ‘I think that, yes. I’d love to know when. I’d love to go back and remember when I described him as a ‘Eric 10 games’. I wouldn’t be too far off with that.
‘I think your terminology of a dead man walking is right.
‘What really worries me about him at this moment in time is that I don’t know what game he’s watching when he comes out afterwards and says that they performed well.
‘You know they didn’t perform well by Manchester United’s standards against West Ham. They didn’t perform well when we sat at Old Trafford and Bayern Munich won without breaking sweat.
‘That’s a major worry and there are issues all over the park. I mean, where do you start?’
Delving into United’s problems further, Sutton expressed sympathy for £72million summer signing Rasmus Hojlund, with the striker yet to find the net in the Premier League.
‘I’ve been there as a centre forward where he seems to have real doubts and a lack of understanding about what his actual role is,’ he said.
‘He seems to have lost confidence because of that. He is hesitating and that’s a massive problem.
‘Do we blame him for that? Do we really know how good he is? Of course we don’t because he has two wide players who simply give you the ball when they’re finished with it.
‘That is a nightmare situation to be in.’
Sutton criticised Brazilian winger Antony for ‘just thinking about himself’ when he gets into good positions and Marcus Rashford for ‘chucking his toys out of the pram’ this season.
‘He looks disinterested, like he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders,’ Sutton said of the England star.
Ladyman pointed out a statistic that United’s wide players had only given Hojlund a pass 11 times between them in Premier League action this season.
‘That is an absolutely extraordinary statistic. 11 passes from his wide players in the Premier League and it’s Christmas Day,’ he added.
‘So that is partly on Ten Hag. The difficulty scoring goals, difficulty creating chances.
‘He has got Bruno Fernandes, he’s got Marcus Rashford, and he’s got [Alejandro] Garnacho, and Antony and [Anthony] Martial, [Jadon] Sancho and Hojlund.
‘They can’t create chances and I’m afraid that is on the coach. That is why I think anyone making an investment the size that Jim Ratcliffe is about to will need to look at his coach and see signs he knows what he is doing.’
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
