Erik ten Hag to be given FA Cup final despite increasing doubt over Man Utd future
Erik ten Hag watched his side put in a wretched display at Selhurst Park – Getty Images/Matthew Peters
Manchester United have no intention of sacking manager Erik ten Hag before the FA Cup final, despite calls from former players of the club to make an immediate change.
Monday night’s embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace prompted ex-United striker Michael Owen to claim Ten Hag should be sacked straight away, with Paul Scholes agreeing that his assistant coach Steve McClaren would do a better job.
But Telegraph Sport understands that United do not plan to sack Ten Hag before the FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 25.
That may give the Dutchman some hope he can somehow cling on to his job with an unlikely victory at Wembley, although the Palace defeat means that is far from certain.
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Old Trafford insiders insist that a final decision on Ten Hag’s future will not be taken until the end of the season, after the FA Cup final, even though a number of players believe his fate is effectively sealed.
Ten Hag’s communication with his squad is said to have caused issues this season, with some sources believing he is lacking in motivational skills and empathy.
United chiefs had given up on Ten Hag’s team making an unlikely run to qualify for the Champions League some time ago. That has since become mathematically impossible, but the club are in danger of missing out on European qualification altogether.
With three games left to play in the Premier League, United are now down in eighth place and entertain title-chasers Arsenal on Sunday before hosting in-form Newcastle United and making a final day trip to Brighton.
That leaves United with an uphill task to clinch Europa League or Europa Conference League qualification ahead of Newcastle and Chelsea. Winning the FA Cup would secure qualification for the Europa League, but they must beat City after needing penalties to progress past Coventry City in the semi-finals.
Speaking on Premier League productions, Owen said: “At some point you’ve got to make a decision, they’re going to get absolutely hammered by Manchester City [in the FA Cup final], they’re going to get annihilated, in fact, Arsenal will smash them to bits at Old Trafford, Newcastle will probably beat them and I wouldn’t even fancy them going to Brighton either. They might not get anything out of the rest of the season, playing like that.
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“I just wonder there’s just so much at stake, even if it’s only for four games, I wonder whether the board might just have to try to do something here and now and be quite radical about it.
“He cannot, simply cannot, manage this team next season. He’s not good enough. I’ve thought it for ages, and he’s just not good enough to manage Manchester United.”
On the influence of McClaren, Owen said: “There is no way his fingerprints are anywhere near that team. He is a brilliant coach and that team is not being coached at all.”
Scholes, who also played under McClaren, added: “He’s not touching that team. The manager must not be letting him touch that team because everyone thinks we were a great team that attacked everybody (Manchester United) but Steve McClaren put sessions on to make sure we stopped other teams, getting the distances and angles right.
“There’s not actually that many bad players at United is there? It looks like they’re not being coached, when it looks like being the manager’s fault. It looks like the fight has gone out of them.”
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