The pressure on Erik ten Hag could become unbearable if Man Utd exit the Champions League on Tuesday, but is the Dutchman being treated unfairly?
The Red Devils are on the brink of a group-stage exit in Europe. Needing to beat Bayern Munich, who will come to Old Trafford with a point to prove after an out-of-character 5-1 loss at the weekend, United also have to rely on the result between Copenhagen and Galatasaray going their way.
Coming off a humiliating 3-0 loss to Bournemouth on home soil, Erik ten Hag is once again fighting for his job. The Dutchman has overseen one of the worst starts to a season in recent Man Utd history and the chorus of voices calling for his head is growing ever louder. Even when the Red Devils have won, they have been mostly unconvincing.
The English media has, unsurprisingly, had no mercy on Ten Hag in light of this dire start to the campaign and pundits back in Ten Hag’s homeland believe that this has unnecessarily ramped up the pressure.
‘It’s five times worse than here’
Speaking on Dutch TV, former players Wim Kieft and Johan Boskamp spoke about Ten Hag and agreed on the fact that their compatriot is getting treated pretty roughly by the English media.
Boskamp said: “They [the media] are just lying there in bushes, that is not nice there,” to which Kieft added that “it’s five times worse there than here.”
The pundits also echoed something that Red Devils legend Paul Scholes recently said, that Man Utd has become a veritable graveyard for managers since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, with big-name coaches like Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal unable to consistently turn things around.
“Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal also died there. Everyone dies there…There must also be something wrong within that club,” Kieft said.
