It's been a disastrous start to the season for Erik ten Hag and Manchester United. Sunday's 0–3 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford was the second consecutive Premier League home defeat with that score line, leaving many wondering how much longer can the Dutch manager remain at the wheel.
Manchester United is off to its joint worst start to a Premier League season with only seven points through six games. The performance on Sunday's loss was shambolic–even before Bruno Fernandes was sent off–and it was the first time United failed to score in consecutive home Premier League defeats since 2021, the last two home matches in the Ole Gunnar Solskjær era.
United has scored just one goal in the league at Old Trafford this season, Joshua Zirkzee's winner in matchweek 1, what's perhaps even more troubling is that the team looks completely lost on the pitch. With the midfield continuing its trend from last year of continually getting outrun, a leaky defensive line and an attack that lacks sharpness in front of goal, these issues were brought back into the spotlight after Sunday's defeat.
After the loss, ten Hag addressed the media and spoke about his job security.
"I'm not thinking about this," ten Hag said regarding the possibility of losing his job.
"We all made in togetherness this decision to stay together, as an ownership, as a leadership group in the summer. We need some time, we're all on one page, on one boat together. I don't have that concern."
Bad bunches of results have become fairly habitual at Manchester United in the past decade since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. Yet, ten Hag has survived all of his so far. A lot of speculation is once again surrounding his future but Fabrizio Romano reported that his job isn't currently in jeopardy. If the poor results were to continue, then United may have to set contingency plans in motion.
Ten Hag's EFL Cup and FA Cup victories are certainly reasons to stick with the manager, but he needs to get the team firing consistently in the Premier League.
The available managerial options are not so different from when ten Hag's job was heavily put into question at the end of last season, after Manchester United had its worst finish ever in the Premier League in eighth place. However, United won the FA Cup, defeating Manchester City in the final to secure a spot in this season's Europa League and the club opted against dismissing ten Hag – even though there were reports of the club hierarchy having conversations with other managers such as former Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel.
The decision to keep the former Ajax manager was done in part to keep some stability at the club after Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS bought 25 percent of the ownership shares of the club. United is also in the midst of a less than ideal injury crisis that goes back to last season. The unavailability of key players is something ten Hag can cling on to justify the poor form.
Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount picked up injuries against Tottenham adding to an injury list that includes Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, and summer signing Leny Yoro.
Ten Hag is in his third season at the club, it's spent the most money in the transfer market out of all Premier League clubs bar Chelsea since his appointment. Results haven't been up to the standard of one of the most successful English clubs of all time, let alone one of the biggest clubs in the world.
It seems like ten Hag is safe for now; however, it could be a very different story a week from now if results against Porto on Thursday and Aston Villa on Sunday don't go ten Hag's way.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Erik ten Hag's Future: How Close is He to Getting Fired?.
