Erik ten hag looks set to be sacked by Manchester United (Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
This weekend, Erik ten Hag will captain Manchester United in the FA Cup final; however, even if the Dutchman defeats Manchester City, it appears that he will soon be leaving the team.
It would be a complete rout if all of the players from United and City were combined into a Manchester dream team.
No United player would be in my hybrid starting eleven. The FA Cup final at Wembley is of that magnitude for them, and I predict that City will win it handily and complete an unprecedented “Double Double” following their Premier League victory.
Due to their preparation for the Champions League final, which is the final leg of the Treble, which takes place seven days after the match, Pep Guardiola’s team managed to make light work of last season’s Wembley showpiece.
However, I think Erik ten Hag’s chances are slim if he needs to win the Cup to keep his job. Even though Louis van Gaal won the FA Cup in 2016, it didn’t keep him from getting fired.
What is it about the FA Cup finals and managers of Manchester clubs? The moment City lost at Wembley in 2013, Roberto Mancini immediately walked the walk.
I haven’t seen any public endorsements for the manager, so I assume that Ten Hag’s fate has already been determined by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his head honcho Sir Dave Brailsford.
It doesn’t appear good for Ten Hag with all the rumors of supposed shortlists featuring Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel, Kieran McKenna, and Thomas Frank.
United recently finished bottom of a Champions League group that also included Copenhagen and Galatasaray, marking their lowest finish in the Premier League era with a negative goal differential.
Ten Hag has enough room for uncertainty, and to use a boxing analogy, I give him only a puncher’s chance against City.
Anything can happen in a one-off cup match, and United has won two of the previous ten meetings, so that sounds about right. I would give them a 20% chance to win at Wembley.
However, even that indicates how far United has lagged behind City. The size of Ten Hag’s task is evident in the final Premier League table, where there was a massive 31-point difference between them.
If Manchester United wins the FA Cup this weekend, I believe it will come as as much of a shock as Wigan defeating City in the final eleven years ago.
