Graeme Souness in his role as an expert on Sky Sports.
Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has “exhausted all terminology” to replace things.
The Red Devils start their midday game against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday with tension rising in Ten Hag’s paints following back-to-back 3-0 defeats to Manchester City and Newcastle United.
Man Utd have lost 8 of their last 15 games in all competitions, taking five of their last 10 at home, as Old Trafford’s prestige as a ‘fortress’ has eroded in recent months.
Their average of game-related problems lately is 1. 5 after their first ten league games, which is less than it has been in any full Premier League season, with Ten Hag on track to have 57 problems at this rate, one less than their lowest tally in the Premier League when they finished sixth in 2021-22.
Some reports claim that new investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe needs to sack Ten Hag and bring him up to speed with Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi, while other reports imply that the Dutchman is in a “thin layer” with the existing board of directors.
And now, Souness has given his damning assessment of Ten Hag’s time at Man Utd, with the former Liverpool player insisting there will be “some scepticism from day one” with the players.
“Never, not in my wildest imagination, could I believe that Erik ten Hag was courting from the middle of a dressing room, convincing an organization of young people with a grossly exaggerated view of themselves that they all went together,” Souness wrote in his book. Daily Mail column.
“Most of them have a hard time adhering to their framework language. From their first speech in the team, the players will have understood what it is and what it is not.
“The locker room is an unforgiving place. Footballers are a bunch of cynics. They will look for small cracks in this trainer’s armor. I find it hard that there hasn’t been skepticism from day one.
“Ten Hag never struck me as someone who could just say, ‘Hey guys. ‘We’re all in this together. Let’s roll up our sleeves and face whatever comes our way.
“When Sir Alex Ferguson was at this club, he created an atmosphere of ‘It’s us and not the world’. Not now. This dressing room is fragmented, no one trusts anyone and there is no unity.
“Ten Hag’s CV, or lack thereof, doesn’t help. That doesn’t tell me I’m going to succeed at Manchester United. He was given the task thanks to controlling the reserves of Bayern Munich, Utrecht and then Ajax. the consistently dominant team in the Dutch Eredivisie that, with all due respect, is not the most powerful league.
“He then convinced United to sign players who until now were not smart enough to play for a big club in England. Since taking over, this club has spent £411 million. Only Chelsea spent more.
Speaking about the scenario at Man Utd, who have the fourth-highest net spend in the Premier League in 2023, Souness added: “The club is now at a level where Ten Hag can’t do much about it. I guarantee you that he will have said everything he could say, tried surely everything he thought he could do to make it work. You’ve exhausted all concepts and terminology. Now he tackles each and every game in one wing and one sentence.
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