Man Utd stars ‘lose faith’ in Ten Hag over Casemiro snub and three other dressing room decisions
Erik ten Hag is ‘not on close terms’ with many of the Manchester United players, who have ‘lost faith’ in the Dutch boss over a number of key decisions this season.
Amid reports that United are looking at alternatives to Ten Hag this week, the club has released a statement insisting those claims are ‘categorically false’, but there’s no doubt the pressure is ramping up on the former Ajax manager.
He’s ordered the players in for one-to-one meetings in a bid to fix the broken dressing room, and The Athletic has revealed some of the key reasons why the squad has started to ‘lose faith’ in the manager.
His decision to take Casemiro off at half-time in the win over Brentford, which Ten Hag said was a tactical call in a bid to “play more football” did not go down well in the dressing room.
Neither did leaving Raphael Varane out of the starting XI for Jonny Evans in the Manchester derby, as the United boss cited “tactical reasons” when explaining his motive.
Many members of the squad also believe he could have handled the Jadon Sancho situation differently, while Harry Maguire is said to have been ‘bruised’ by Ten Hag’s attempts to get rid of him in the summer.
The report claims ‘Ten Hag is not on close terms with many of United’s players and a perceived lack of charisma on his part has frequently been cited’, but does also add that ‘although players are beginning to have doubts about Ten Hag, not all of them believe he has lost the dressing room’.
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It’s not just the players who harbour doubts, as The Athletic claim that people ‘with connections to United’ are unconvinced he has ‘fully adapted to the demands of the Premier League’ having spent the majority of the past two decades coaching in the Netherlands.
‘Others consider Ten Hag to be a good coach but the wrong personality for the situation United find themselves in’, the report adds.
But ‘Ten Hag’s position is not under immediate threat’, with the club said to be feeling positive about a relatively kind run of fixtures.
After Saturday’s trip to Fulham, United face Copenhagen in the Champions League before welcoming Luton Town to Old Trafford.
Poor performances and results in those games could spell the end for Ten Hag, but the prospect of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 25 per cent minority investment ‘complicates matters’.
It’s thought action is unlikely to be taken before Ratcliffe gains control of the sporting decisions as expected and the Glazers would not wish for upheaval while the process is nearing completion.
