£34m star ‘has done nothing’ as Ten Hag takes Man Utd ‘backwards’, says ex-PL boss

Erik ten Hag is taking Manchester United “backwards” according to Tim Sherwood, who picked out Raphael Varane as one supposed “superstar” who “has not done anything” at Old Trafford.

Scott McTominay’s brace to save the day against Brentford has “papered over the cracks” for Erik ten Hag at United, who currently sit tenth in the Premier League having lost four of their eight games.

Former Spurs boss Sherwood believes there’s a lack of progression under the Dutch boss, and took aim at Varane, who he claims has done nothing of note since his £34m move from Real Madrid in the summer of 2021.

“Basically what they’re doing is under Ten Hag buying a load of superstars and hoping that they perform,’ Sherwood told Premier League Productions.

“They haven’t got a clear style play, I don’t see any patterns, any structure, all I see is throwing a group of players out onto the pitch, see where they land and hoping one of the superstars pulls you out of the mire, and that’s exactly what has happened.

“I mean, that that’s [McTominay] not a superstar that’s a kid who really wants to play for the badge. Hannibal has started a few games about a couple of weeks ago, he was their best player, why? Because he wanted to run around, he wanted to tackle, and he wanted to absolutely leave nothing on the pitch for his shirt.

“Now someone like Bruno [Fernandes], who I think is a fantastic player, and Marcus Rashford, who is from the academy, they need to look at some of these kids who are coming in who really appreciate the opportunity to get onto the pitch and they start pulling a finger out.

“Casemiro… for me, Varane away with it, he has not done anything since he’s been at that football club. We talk about [Bukayo] Saka when people say, ‘consecutive games, he needs a rest, he needs a rest’, this boy [Varane] is in, he’s out, he’s injured again, I think there’s no durability there, what’s he done for Manchester United? I think there are far too many of them.

“But we’re alright getting on the back of Harry Maguire, we’ll a little pop at him, but he’ll go there, give everything and front it up.

“I think the manager is taking them backwards, I really do. I think last year he was great, a trophy and another cup final, into the Champions League, you can’t argue it, but you expect progression every single year.

“You expect at least an identity of how they want to play, now the identity of how he wanted to play at Ajax, trying to transform that, to translate that to the Premier League, it doesn’t travel, it doesn’t move that well, we never see anyone coming here from the Eredivisie to the Premier League and doing well, it doesn’t, you have to change the page, he has to flick it over, you have to have more penetration.

“It’s a lot of keeping the ball, it’s very boring to watch, it’s not Manchester United, they need to get back to that very, very quick otherwise…

“It [United’s win over Brentford] papered over the cracks, and if he was under pressure if they should have lost that game, he should be under pressure now because that’s a fluke that they come out of that.

“He’s he’s not a good manager because McTominay scores two injury-time goals, it doesn’t make him a good or bad manager, if they would have made their decision to get rid of Ten Hag if they didn’t win that football match, they should still get rid of him.

“I don’t like managers losing their jobs but he has to show progression, he has to show the club is moving forward, at the moment it’s moving but it’s going backwards.”

READ MORE: 2) Liverpool, 3) Man Utd – Arsenal, Spurs judged in ranking of every season’s best unbeaten start