Erik ten Hag ridiculed for Man Utd claim as sack prediction made ahead of Bournemouth trip

Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United make the trip to Bournemouth on Saturday

Chris Sutton has questioned Erik ten Hag for thinking Manchester United “should have won” their last three matches and believes their recent slump will continue at Bournemouth.

Last weekend, Ten Hag claimed United should have beaten Brentford, Chelsea and Liverpool. Instead, the Red Devils picked up just two points from a possible nine which leaves them sixth, 11 points behind fourth-place Tottenham and with a mountain to climb in the race for the Champions League places.

United conceded in the 99th minute to draw at Brentford, before throwing away a 3-2 lead to lose 4-3 deep into stoppage-time at Chelsea. Then United were in front up until late on against Liverpool, but let slip to draw 2-2 after Kobbie Mainoo had given them the lead with a superb curling effort.

“Again, we give a certain win out of our hands by making, let’s say, not a very clever mistake there, like on Thursday and like last Saturday,” Ten Hag said after his side drew against Liverpool at Old Trafford. “And we lose seven points in one week, where we should have had nine points.”

Ahead of their trip to Bournemouth on Saturday evening, Sutton has aimed a subtle dig at Ten Hag for saying his side should have won those three matches, having not been at their best in any of them. The former Celtic forward also believes United will lose 2-1 to the in-form Cherries.

“Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag claims United should have won their past three games against Brentford, Chelsea and Liverpool, which I think is based on the fact they were ahead each time and could not see it out, but it leaves me wondering which matches he is watching,” Sutton told BBC Sport.

“If you look at the Liverpool game as a whole then they got absolutely battered. Brentford had stacks of chances too and you could argue United were lucky to get back into the game against Chelsea in the first place, when Moises Caicedo helped them out with a poor backpass.

“Bournemouth were brilliant when they won 3-0 at Old Trafford in December, so can they do the double over United? I think they will. Will Ten Hag be United’s manager next season? I am pretty sure he won’t. I have had problems getting United scores right because they have got some excellent individual players who keep digging them out of trouble but, as we have seen, they can’t rely on that happening in every game.”

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