Man Utd legend Paul Scholes believes the Red Devils are “regressing” under Erik ten Hag, who has made them “a poorly coached team”.
Ten Hag’s side are back in action against FC Porto on Thursday evening after Sunday’s embarrassing 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham.
The Dutch manager is under serious pressure and trips to Porto in the Europa League and Aston Villa in the Premier League are hardly ideal fixtures during a crisis.
Defeats in both matches could be fatal for Ten Hag, with Man Utd reluctant to sack a manager who recently signed a new contract, but could be left with no choice.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe reportedly spoke to Thomas Tuchel in the summer and is a big fan of ex-England boss Gareth Southgate.
Ten Hag – who leads the Premier League sack race – was left in limbo for much of the summer before Ratcliffe decided to offer him a contract extension to end the managerial uncertainty at the club, mainly because none of his targets wanted to or could join.
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Man Utd’s start to 2024/25 has been abysmal and Sunday’s heavy defeat to Spurs was arguably the worst performance we have seen since Ten Hag’s arrival, and there have been quite a few.
Ten Hag made injury excuses last season but can hardly do so now, with summer signings Manuel Ugarte, Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui all starting against Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Their awful form this season has plenty of club legends worried and former midfielder Scholes says the Red Devils are “difficult to watch” under Ten Hag.
“You don’t see where the next good performance or win is coming from,” Scholes told Mail Sport.
“I don’t think the players even understand what the manager wants from them. They look like a poorly coached team. It’s difficult to watch.
“It’s two-and-a-bit years now and I feel like there’s no progression when teams like Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal, are progressing all the time.
“With United, it feels like the opposite – it feels like we’re regressing. We’re going the wrong way as results would suggest. All fans want is a bit of direction but there’s a lack of hope. The team look so far off being anywhere near competitive.”
Scholes also discussed the form of Marcus Rashford, who is proving himself to be a real confidence player.
Rashford began to show some form last month when he backed up a goal at Southampton with two goals and an assist against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.
Remarkably, Ten Hag decided to bench the England international for the following match against Crystal Palace, which Man Utd drew 0-0.
“I thought he had turned a corner,” Scholes said when asked about Rashford. “I thought it was a really strange decision to leave him out of the Palace game.
“When a lad has been struggling for confidence for such a long time and then he actually scores, two in one game and one in another, and then is just left out, when you think he’s got his spark back, then you have to question whether Marcus has been behaving properly or whether the manager has got a big decision wrong.
“Just when you think he’s back and firing again, his confidence looks low again and you’re back to square one.”
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