Ian Wright has questioned Erik ten Hag’s eligibility to continue leading Manchester United. The Dutchman’s future at Old Trafford has become less and less assured.
Ten Hag has struggled to put United back among the Premier League’s top teams since taking over from Ralf Rangnick in July 2022, despite large spending on new players.
According to a recent story from the Manchester Evening News, Sir Jim Ratcliffe isn’t sure he will keep Ten Hag at the club beyond this season.
Ten Hag is under pressure to establish his value. With the FA Cup yet to be won, United are currently sixth in the Premier League, 11 points behind Aston Vila in fourth position. Qualification for the Champions League next season looks highly unlikely.
Not only have the outcomes disappointed, but so have a lot of the on-field performances. Wright claims he still doesn’t know what Ten Hag’s playing style is.
The former Arsenal striker expressed doubts about the manager’s future in a statement on Premier League Productions. Wright stated:
“You have to look at, is this the manager to take them to the next level?
“If you are looking at it now, I still don’t know what their main structure of play is. You can’t buy players like Antony and it doesn’t work. (Sofyan) Amrabat coming in and it doesn’t work. Why did you buy Mason Mount?
“So, you are looking at players they have bought, just those three and you are thinking to yourself, ‘who is making those decisions?’ Those things don’t happen at Man City, of course, they don’t. They have an unbelievable management team.”
Wright has joined a number of ex-players in criticising ten Hag and his methods at Man United.
Former Man United players Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes have been joined by former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher in expressing concern with how ten Hag is performing at the club.
The club lacks a proper playing style, a method that other Premier League clubs like Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal display on a weekly basis.
With the investment handed to ten Hag, he has failed miserably in making the team competitive.
