“It would be madness” - Ally McCoist urges Manchester United to make key decision on Erik ten Hag amid sack rumors
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is under all sorts of pressure following the Red Devils' dismal start to the season. The 20-time English champions have made joint-worst start to a Premier League campaign and find themselves 13th in the table.
The Red Devils have lost three of their six league games so far and have suffered back-to-back 3-0 losses at home to Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. A major section of the fanbase have already lost their patience in Erik ten Hag and have been rooting for his sacking.
However, pundit Ally McCoist has claimed that Manchester United should stick with the manager regardless of the results. He insisted that the owners only rewarded him a new deal this summer and should give the Dutchman more time to turn things around.
The former Rangers striker and manager insisted that Ten Hag should be kept at least until Christmas. McCoist told talkSPORT BET, as quoted by The Mirror:
“It’s difficult to say how long United should give Ten Hag, because they’ve only just extended his contract. With the new owners giving him that new deal, it would make sense for them to stick with him no matter what happens in the foreseeable future.
“It would be madness to give him a new contract and then get rid of him straight away, that wouldn’t make any sense whatsoever. Unless there’s a rapid and unbelievable decline in results and standards, I think Ten Hag will be in charge at least until Christmas.”
McCoist admitted that Manchester United have been one of the worst teams in the Premier League this season. He added:
“Manchester United have been one of the most disappointing sides in the Premier League this season. They were outclassed by Liverpool, beaten by Brighton, and already after just five games we’ve seen for definite that they’ve got no chance of winning the league.
"Their best hope of winning something this season is in one of the cups, that’s where they are at the moment. They have to start improving. From the manager’s point of view, the performances need to improve and they need to start taking points off those sides higher up the table."
McCoist also insisted that the Red Devils are nowhere near the levels of their major rivals like Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. He added:
“There’s no doubt that both the performances and results need to improve. United are a club that has to be taking three points off the rest of the teams outside the big six on a consistent basis.
“They always get beaten by Manchester City and Liverpool, and Arsenal will probably beat them this season. The most worrying thing for me is the gulf in class that was so apparent in their loss to Liverpool.”
Erik ten Hag's side are set for a pretty difficult run of fixtures as they take on Porto and Aston Villa this week.
Patrice Evra explains why he believes Erik ten Hag will keep his job at Manchester United
Patrice Evra has claimed that Erik ten Hag will be able to avoid the axing despite the increasing pressure. The former Manchester United left-back has highlighted that the Dutchman usually finds a way to get results when his job is on the line. Evra told Sky Sports:
"We're going to keep saying 'if he loses those two games, he's going to get sacked'. But from experience, every time when he had that game, when we're going to say, 'he's going to get sacked', he always wins them. So I'm not worried."
As claimed by The Telegraph, the Manchester United hierarchy are considering the future of ten Hag. The former Ajax manager has been in charge of the Red Devils 123 times so far, winning 71 games and losing 35 times.