Erik ten Hag is under increasing pressure at Manchester United and former West Ham forward Paolo Di Canio has weighed in on the debate with a crazy accusation.
The Italian claims Ten Hag is not the right manager for Manchester United because he hasn’t learned anything from his first two years at the club, while stating that he doesn’t like British players.
It’s not a good sign if people are still saying this after three years and we would be lying to suggest Di Mario is alone in his thinking. After a questionable second season, which saw United win the FA Cup, United remain inconsistent after a slow start to the 2024/25 campaign.
Ten Hag is under pressure to turn things around quickly after the 3-0 Premier League defeat against Tottenham. Bruno Fernandes was sent off and Kobbie Mainoo sustained an injury, while Dejan Kuluseveki and Dominic Solanke added to Brennan Johnson’s first-half opener.
Seats emptied early at Old Trafford as fans left the stadium fed up. Now, questions are being asked whether Ten Hag will still have a job after the October international break.
The result means United are sitting 12th in the league table on seven points.
Speaking about United’s problems, Di Canio told il Napolista: “How can you sell Scott McTominay for €30m to get Manuel Ugarte for €50m? Ugarte is used to Lisbon, he played two excellent years at Sporting but the Premier League is another thing. Today in Manchester it was 10 degrees, raining for 10 days, in Lisbon it’s 25 degrees. Last year, he was in Paris, he’s a composed player, who plays a lot of positional football.
“The truth is that Ten Hag doesn’t like British players, he doesn’t buy any British players. Last year he bought Rasmus Hojlund, this year Joshua Zirkzee, who has a physicality that goes well in Italy. Tottenham instead bought Dominic Solanke who is a good player, nothing transcendental but he’s a good player.
“United have a new problem: the attack. Having solved their defensive problems, Ten Hag now has to deal with the problem of strikers who don’t shoot. As soon as Erik ten Hag solved a problem on one side of the pitch, another arose on the other.
“I’m sorry to see Ten Hag in great difficulty, but he hasn’t learned anything from these two years. When they concede a goal, they don’t react, no one raises their head, no one talks to each other.”
To claim Ten Hag doesn’t like British players is quite the accusation, and one we don’t think is true when everybody knows he wanted Harry Kane two summers ago.
If Di Canio did his homework he would have found that Ten Hag went on record saying he didn’t want to sell McTominay.
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