Manchester United averted loss at Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, but the future of manager Erik ten Hag remains uncertain following a difficult start to the season.
Gary Neville wouldn’t be shocked if Manchester United assessed Erik ten Hag’s situation over the international break, despite the Red Devils avoided the type of performance at Aston Villa that may have pressed co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s hand.
United had allowed three goals in their previous two games, but they held Villa to a goalless draw on Sunday. It was a game with few huge opportunities, with Bruno Fernandes coming closest with a free kick that struck the crossbar.
Ratcliffe did not fully support the management prior to the game. This was despite Ten Hag receiving a contract extension during the summer.
Jamie Carragher lambasted the choice to stick with the former Ajax manager, calling it one of the worst moves made by the United administration. However, Neville urged that the owners retain faith with the boss in the hopes of breaking free from their current situation.I think we all know that during international holidays, teams review, and I believe what’s occurred in the last week,” Neville told Sky Sports before of the Villa encounter. “Anyone who was in Old Trafford last week [for the defeat against Tottenham], I don’t believe you even need to be in the stadium to recognize that it felt like a historic day.
When asked about Ratcliffe’s midweek comments, he replied, “It didn’t surprise me. If you went to [Liverpool owners] FSG and asked John Henry who would be dismissing the [Liverpool] manager, I believe he would respond I’d leave it to my football department on the ground.
“It will be Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada, with help from Jason Wilcox. They’ll make the decision or suggestion [on Ten Hag], and Joel Glazer, Jim Ratcliffe, and Dave Brailsford, who sit on the club’s sporting committee, will approve it.””But one thing’s for certain, when you speak to people around the club, they don’t want to make that decision,” Neville joked. “They want to try something different to get through this difficult moment. It’s their first time in this circumstance, and they’ve gathered a lot of evidence over the previous ten years about how to do it and how not to do it, so I imagine at this point they’ll want to try and make their own judgment based on what they’re thinking.”
United’s eight points from seven games is their lowest total at this stage of a Premier League season. The draw at Villa Park means they will enter the international break in the bottom half of the Premier League standings, and Sky Sports quizzed Ten Hag about his meetings with the club’s management.
“We always speak, every week we speak,” he claimed. “We’re all on the same page, we know what we’re working on, and it’s a lengthy process. We’ve come through two really difficult away games. This is a team; we demonstrated our belief and faith.
