- Ten Hag savagely named most ‘deluded’ Prem boss, with huge Man Utd claim shut down by second pundit
Erik ten Hag, Man Utd
Erik ten Hag is under big pressure as Man Utd boss
Gary Neville is not the only pundit to have ripped into Erik ten Hag this week, with a second pundit calling him ‘deluded’ after Manchester United dropped yet more points in the top-four race.
Man Utd have had a very frustrating week, having been held to a 1-1 draw at Brentford before being on the wrong end of a seven-goal thriller against Chelsea on Thursday. Man Utd were 3-2 up deep into injury time but two late goals from Cole Palmer saw Chelsea complete the most unlikely of comebacks and somehow win 4-3.
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On Sunday, Man Utd drew 2-2 with rivals Liverpool, though they were lucky to gain a point as Jurgen Klopp’s men missed a host of good opportunities.
Following the stalemate at Old Trafford, former Man Utd defender Neville labelled Ten Hag’s tactics ‘mad’, saying that some of their errors are worse than at ‘schoolboy level’.
Neville added: “Their structure defensively goes from being in shape and being okay to all of a sudden emptying the whole midfield. Players press on their own without the rest of their team-mates going with them.
“You have players in front of the ball at throw-ins and the ball gets thrown in behind towards the back four.
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“All of the things that you see as, if you like, the easiest things in football to do, Manchester United do really badly.
“They are so easy to play against. Liverpool had 15 shots in that first half.”
Ten Hag bemoans Man Utd as they ‘give it away’
Following the clash with Liverpool, Ten Hag claimed his side should have picked up three wins in the previous week and given their Champions League qualification hopes a massive boost.
“It’s more frustration after this week when you’ve got yourself into a winning position three times and then three times you give it away,” he said.
“We should have had nine points after this week but we have only two and the standard for Manchester United is that you get nine points, go up to the top four and compete for trophies.
“We can still win because we are in the FA Cup semi-final and the top four, we’ll keep fighting for it. It’s still possible because we have seen that if we collected nine points from this week we’d be in the race for the top four.
“We have to believe in that and keep fighting for every point and every game. We need wins and the good thing is that we put ourselves in winning positions but we have to learn to get the win over the line.”
However, former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor did not take well to Ten Hag’s comments. On talkSPORT, he responded by saying: “Have you ever heard a more deluded manager?
“He should be coming out and saying, ‘My team have got to be better, we’re not in the game, we gifted the goal and we’ve got to defend the first goal better’.
“But he says they should have nine points? Are you winding me up?”
The last-gasp FA Cup victory over Liverpool last month was just the result Ten Hag needed as he tries to win over Sir Jim Ratcliffe and save his job.
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