Paul Merson has painted a grim picture of the outlook for Manchester United under Erik ten Hag (Picture: Sky Sports)
Paul Merson has urged Manchester United’s board to urgently consider sacking Erik ten Hag.
The Dutchman made an impressive start to his Old Trafford tenure, but like so many of his predecessors he appears to have hit a brick wall in his second campaign.
A miserable start to the campaign hit a new low last night when United were run ragged by a second string Newcastle team on their home turf and succumbed to an embarrassing 3-0 Carabao Cup defeat.
It is a far cry from the jubilant scenes which followed a Wembley triumph against the same opposition last term as Ten Hag secured silverware at the first time of asking but Merson fears it increasingly looks as though there is now way back for the beleaguered former Ajax boss.
‘The face I see every week is Ten Hag chewing gum, stone-faced,’ Merson told Sky Sports. ‘It’s all I see and something has got to be done.
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‘It’s now a big game on Saturday away to Fulham. I don’t see how much further this goes on. I know I read in the papers it could cost £15m. I know they may say that’s a lot but they’ve just let £80m go to waste in not playing Jadon Sancho.
‘They chased this kid for I don’t know how long, he says one thing, and now he’s completely out. He’ll probably go out on loan in January and they’ll be paying half his wages.
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‘This needs to get sorted and personally I think it’s toxic. I don’t take any notice of it being toxic behind the scenes. I am more worried on the pitch which is where it counts. They are all over the place and if not for a last-minute penalty they would have drawn at home to Copenhagen. Come on, get serious.
‘For me, he is under serious pressure and they have got to have a meeting and see what they do. He has lost the players, you don’t start getting beat the way they are getting beat.
‘Everybody loses football matches but there are ways of losing and tonight, like last week, they were just completely beaten. It is not good at all. Everything was too easy for Newcastle.’
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