What the papers say
Ten Hag criticises Rashford in Porto but denies substitution was punishment
- Manager unhappy with United’s defending in Porto
- ‘Don’t judge us in this moment,’ he says after 3-3 draw
Erik ten Hag criticised Marcus Rashford for his part in the poor defending that allowed Porto’s opening goal in Manchester United’s 3-3 draw with Porto, but denied the forward was taken off for this at half-time, stating it was simply to rotate his squad.
United raced into a 2-0 lead on 20 minutes at Estádio do Dragão through Rashford and Rasmus Højlund but let this slip as Pepê and Samu drew Porto level across seven first-half minutes. Pepê’s goal derived from a cross along Rashford’s left flank and the manager was asked if this was why he replaced him with Alejandro Garnacho.
Continue reading...Harry Maguire rescues point for 10-man Manchester United after debacle in Porto
The darkest point is supposedly always before dawn. Did Harry Maguire’s late equaliser cast Manchester United’s 3-0 loss against Tottenham as this? Because beforehand, Erik ten Hag was leading his men into an ever bleaker pitch-blackness. From 2-0 up to 2-2 in seven first-half minutes, to allowing a third that seemed to kill off United, then to Bruno Fernandes’s second red card in two matches. This seemed to have Ten Hag’s tenure heading for oblivion.
It may still do: the Dutch manager likes to quip he is no Harry Potter. The escape here with a draw has him, for tonight, as Harry Houdini. But for how long can he escape the Sir Jim Ratcliffe axe?
Continue reading...Porto v Manchester United: Europa League – live
- Updates from the 8pm BST start at the Estádio do Dragão
- Ferencvaros v Tottenham, Europa League – live updates
- Live scores | Share your thoughts with Tim via email
2 min And again! Samu is the provider this time, cutting back from the inside-right channel. Galeno’s shot is on target and Onana tips it over.
1 min Porto in the United box already! Their striker Samu gets a shot in, but it’s easily blocked.
Continue reading...Manchester United are ‘mad and motivated’ insists Erik ten Hag
- Manager expects players to react after Spurs defeat
- Results at Porto and Aston Villa could decide his future
Erik ten Hag has stated that Manchester United are “mad” at losing 3-0 against Tottenham on Sunday and must use it as motivation against Porto on Thursday in a game the manager may need to win to keep his job.
United’s woeful display against Spurs has left Ten Hag’s position in the balance and, with the team down in 13th place in the Premier League, he desperately needs a reaction in the Europa League on Thursday.
Continue reading...Bruno Fernandes’s red card against Spurs rescinded in boost to Erik ten Hag
- FA overturn Manchester United captain’s early dismissal
- Means he can face Aston Villa, Brentford and West Ham
Erik ten Hag has received a welcome boost after Bruno Fernandes’s red card in Manchester United’s 3-0 loss to Tottenham on Sunday was deemed by the Football Association to be a wrongful dismissal. It means the captain’s three-game ban has been reversed.
With United in 12th following the weekend humiliation, and Ten Hag’s job in the balance due to United’s poor start to the season, Fernandes had been set to miss Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, as well as games against Brentford and West Ham. He can now feature in all of those fixtures after United decided to appeal the decision by referee Christopher Kavanagh to send-off the midfielder just before half-time at Old Trafford for his seemingly reckless challenge on James Maddison as the hosts trailed 1-0. Replays clearly showed Fernandes had slipped as he looked to close down Maddison and that this had a material impact on his subsequent challenge, which was also little more than a light clip, making it somewhat baffling that VAR did not overturn the decision at the time.
Continue reading...After dismal home displays, how secure is Erik ten Hag at Manchester United?
Outcome of games against Porto and Aston Villa may settle things for United’s board despite desire to show faith
After deciding in the summer not to sack Erik ten Hag and extending his contract to 2026, the Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led football department would appear a touch silly if he were removed six Premier League matches into the season. So, the stance at the club the morning after the 3-0 humiliation by Tottenham at Old Trafford on Sunday was a resolve to remain serene while acknowledging the defeat, and its manner, as anathema to the excellence pursued by Ratcliffe, his chief executive, Omar Berrada, and the sporting director, Dan Ashworth. Ten league outings may seem a more prudent test of Ten Hag and his piloting of the squad but lose at Porto, on Thursday in the Europa League, and at Aston Villa, on Sunday in the league, and the cull may come. Especially with an international break after the Villa game.
Continue reading...Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United future hangs in the balance for next two games
- Dutchman expected to stay for next two matches at least
- Defeat to Porto or Aston Villa could result in his removal
Erik ten Hag is set to remain Manchester United manager for Thursday’s trip to Porto and Sunday’s visit to Aston Villa, with the club’s executive “calm” regarding his position despite Sunday’s humiliating 3-0 loss to Tottenham.
The reverse at Old Trafford leaves United 12th in the Premier League with seven points from six matches, and a goal difference of -3, having scored only five times. Sunday’s result represented a second consecutive 3-0 loss in the league at home, following the capitulation to Liverpool on 1 September.
Continue reading...Shapeless, demotivated, petulant … Ten Hag’s ghost ship continues to drift on | Jonathan Wilson
Another thumping home defeat highlights a weak club that did not know what it wanted in the summer, or lacked the nous to get what it wanted over the line
Who did not think that, sooner or later, we’d be here again? At the end of last season, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Sir Dave Brailsford and the rest of the Ineos leadership at Manchester United spoke to numerous potential candidates after the club finished eighth in the Premier League with a negative goal-difference. They decided they would, after all, keep Erik ten Hag on as manager. After that decision, who did not foresee a point in the near future when, after another run of poor results, they would be back in the same place as before, just several million pounds poorer having bought another load of Dutch and Dutch-adjacent players?
This is United and that means these problems are always complicated by the memory of Sir Alex Ferguson, who endured some lean years before finally winning the league in his seventh season at the club. The instinct for fans is always to show patience. Nobody wants to be Pete Molyneux, the fan who held up a banner reading “Three years of excuses and it’s still crap … ta-ra Fergie” six months before the decisive 1990 FA Cup triumph that was a springboard to Ferguson’s success.
Continue reading...What now for Manchester United after another new low? – Football Weekly podcast
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lucy Ward, and Jonathan Wilson to discuss all the weekend’s Premier League action
Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email.
On the podcast today, the panel breaks down where it went wrong for Manchester United and where it went right for Tottenham at Old Trafford. What is next for Manchester United and Erik ten Hag?
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action
Arteta’s explanation baffles, Palmer exposes Hürzeler’s tactics and how long before a big club pounces for Mbeumo?
Has the curse of the Manchester United contract struck for the second year in succession? After Marcus Rashford agreed a bumper new deal a year ago, he promptly endured a miserable 2023-24 season. This summer, it was Bruno Fernandes’ turn to sign a lucrative extension – one that few could grumble with at the time. Yet the Portuguese, usually a beacon of consistency for United through all their ups and downs, has started the campaign in scruffy and sluggish fashion. He has yet to score this season, has only one assist in six Premier League matches and is increasingly cutting a frustrated figure. That frustration came pouring out in his callow kick at James Maddison, which left United – struggling enough when it was 11 v 11 – down and out with 10 men. Fernandes deserves credit for fronting up after the game but that interview was his most significant contribution of the afternoon. Dominic Booth
Match report: Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham
Match report: Arsenal 4-2 Leicester
Match report: Newcastle 1-1 Manchester City
Match report: Ipswich 2-2 Aston Villa
Match report: Chelsea 4-2 Brighton
Match report: Wolves 1-2 Liverpool
Continue reading...Tottenham condemn fans’ homophobic chanting at Manchester United
- Club vow to take ‘strongest possible action’
- Statement says it is ‘simply unacceptable’
Tottenham have condemned the “abhorrent homophobic chanting” from sections of the away support during the side’s 3-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday.
Spurs issued a statement on Sunday evening vowing to take “the strongest possible action” over the offensive chants, which were allegedly aimed at United’s former Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount and the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta.
Continue reading...Erik ten Hag rebuffs sacking fears and says Manchester United need time
- Manager “not thinking about” job security
- United 12th in top flight after 3-0 Spurs loss
Erik ten Hag denied any concern that he may be sacked by Manchester United after Tottenham’s 3-0 humiliation of his side at Old Trafford on Sunday.
United were in disarray from Brennan Johnson’s third-minute opener, before Bruno Fernandes was sent off later in the first half. Dejan Kulesevksi and Dominic Solanke also scored for the visitors after the break.
Continue reading...Tottenham roll the dice and cash in on United’s sorry shrine to wasted money | Jonathan Liew
Chastening defeat adds to Old Trafford crisis story but the reality is they were simply undone by a maverick opponent
Well, Manchester United: here’s your Wembley of the North. Several years ahead of schedule, and perhaps not quite as envisaged in the architects’ drawings, but note-perfect in most other respects. A retail temple with a football concession attached; a shrine to wasted money; a ground where the noise barely rises above a disgruntled murmur, and where Tottenham feel pleasantly at home.
Afterwards, Erik ten Hag tried to maintain some semblance of dignity, like a plumber calmly filling out his invoice even as brown water sloshes around his knees. After all, this is not simply a job but an office, and even in moments of decay a certain carriage is demanded. “Is there a fire drill?” the Tottenham fans gleefully asked as Old Trafford slowly emptied. There wasn’t. But the real thing is beginning to feel dangerously close.
Continue reading...Ten Hag says players made 'bad decisions' in Manchester United's loss against Tottenham – video
Erik Ten Hag said his Manchester United players made 'very bad decisions' in their match against Tottenham, which the visitors won 3-0. 'What I saw in the first 30 minutes, that is below the level that we can expect from a Man United team,' said Ten Hag after the match. Manchester United have scored only one goal at home in the Premier League this term, with pressure mounting on the manager.
Continue reading...Tottenham humiliate Manchester United as Bruno Fernandes sent off
This is the nadir of Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure. A slipshod shambolic mess that Tottenham exploited gleefully, pinging the ball about and punching through their storied hosts as if in a men-v-kids knockabout.
The manager claims to have a plan and on this showing it seems to be based on waving the opposition past on a figurative red carpet as Spurs ran through United endlessly. Towards the end, at 2-0 down, a 10-man United rallied, as Casemiro raided and Alejandro Garnacho darted in: this merely showed what Ten Hag’s charges might have done if they were not an embarrassment to their famous shirt.
Continue reading...Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League – live
- Updates from 4.30pm (BST) kickoff at Old Trafford
- Get in touch: you can mail Dominic with your thoughts
Some good news for United. Their women’s side have just wrapped up a hard-fought 1-0 win at Everton. Spurs’ women take on Aston Villa soon.
Manchester United are winless in their past three against Tottenham; before that they’d won four on the bounce against them. The one thing we should be guaranteed today is goals. There’s only been one 1-0 in the past 14 meetings between these two sides – and no goalless draws between them for more than a decade.
Continue reading...Ten Hag places faith in United’s youth revolution but the stakes are high | Will Unwin
Time is a precious commodity in football, rarely extended to Manchester United managers languishing in mid-table
There was a shift in the direction of Manchester United’s transfer policy over the summer, putting all their focus on young players. Their oldest new boy was Noussair Mazraoui at the tender age of 26 as Erik ten Hag and Ineos collaborated on a long-term plan. But to make it successful, progress needs to be made on last season’s finish of eighth.
It was a more methodical approach to acquire players with the chance to develop within the club, to make them stronger for years to come. Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Manuel Ugarte, without a minute of Premier League experience between them, joined Old Trafford’s youthful revolution with plenty of pedigree, but a struggling side is looking for an uplift against Tottenham on Sunday.
Continue reading...Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend
Sandro Tonali is ready for a start, Ipswich will be hopeful for visit of Villa and should Fulham be aiming for Europe?
Despite positive results, Newcastle’s performances have disappointed, so Saturday’s 3-1 reverse at Fulham was not a significant shock. Eddie Howe did not disagree with recent suggestions that his team had been deliberately “undercooked” in pre-season training to help reduce the injuries that dogged them in the spring. The only problem is that they currently seem unable to implement the high, hard press that has brought them considerable success under the former Bournemouth manager.
Newcastle v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)
Chelsea v Brighton, Saturday 3pm
Brentford v West Ham, Saturday 3pm
Everton v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm
Arsenal v Leicester, Saturday 3pm
Continue reading...Ten Hag says Manchester United need time to develop Yoro and Zirkzee
- Manager insists team are still a ‘work in progress’
- Ten Hag admits players could be hungrier for wins
Erik ten Hag has pleaded for patience at Manchester United, saying time is required to “build” Leny Yoro, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Højlund to reach their potential.
Wednesday’s disappointing 1-1 Europa League draw with Twente followed Saturday’s 0-0 at Crystal Palace. United are 11th in the Premier League with seven points from five games after scoring only five times, leaving a goal difference of zero. In Ten Hag’s five transfer windows his squad has had £600m-plus of investment. He was asked whether fans were entitled to want the team to be further along in their development.
Continue reading...Ten Hag criticises Manchester United for 'complacency' against Twente – video
Erik ten Hag responded to Christian Eriksen's criticism of Manchester United's mentality in their 1-1 draw with FC Twente in the Europa League. The Manchester United manager said his side failed to 'kill the game' as the English team failed to take advantage of their 1-0 lead, instead conceding an equaliser to an Twente team who played 'the game of their life'
Continue reading...