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Former Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer has torn into Erik ten Hag and questioned his suitability for the Manchester United job.
After yet another languid effort against Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend, numerous pundits have stuck the boot into the United manager.
Robbie Savage and Jamie Redknapp have both openly stated that they expect the United manager to get the sack sooner rather than later.
The media have also began speculating on his successor such as Inter manager Simeone Inzaghi. Nonetheless, it has been reported that no sacking is imminent and Ten Hag will remain in the job for crucial matches against FC Porto and Aston Villa this week.
The latest voice to criticise Ten Hag’s management of the club comes from De Boer, who was speaking post-match on Sunday while working for Viaplay (via The Mirror).
De Boer himself had his issues in England. He was sacked after only four games as Crystal Palace manager after losing every match at the start of the 2017/2018 season and was labelled the “worst manager in the history of the Premier League” by Jose Mourinho.
Commenting on the game he stated, “having watched them and having now analysed Manchester United, I can only say that they are in a bad state.”
“United look like a team that are wobbling everywhere. They have been totally outclassed [by Tottenham] – and I am talking about being outclassed tactically, in quality, in effort and energy. Where weren’t they outclassed?”
The 54 year old also laid into United’s players, claiming they made critical error after error during the 90 minutes.
“I was looking at the players – and one after the other they made such stupid mistakes. So many players are making poor passes. I was trying to count the amount of big things that went wrong in the first 45 minutes and it was impossible to count those big mistakes on the fingers of two hands.”
The former Barcelona defender also highlighted how poor United looked in comparison to their opponents Tottenham and he found it “remarkable” that an opposition team could play with such confidence at a stadium like Old Trafford.
De Boer’s next target was new signing Joshua Zirkzee, who has struggled to hit the ground running since his move from Bologna and was shockingly linked with a January exit to Juventus yesterday.
Commenting on the striker’s game he said, “look at Joshua Zirkzee. He was having a nightmare. He was absolutely shocking. How many times does he make the wrong choices on the pitch? Okay, he did have one shot at goal and the keeper saved it. But all in all he was champion in losing the ball.”
He claimed that it was clear he would have a bad game as he said during the warm up he regularly missed the target and was just trying to blast the ball.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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