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Jermaine Pennant is of the opinion that Manchester United are set to fire manager Erik ten Hag given his continued run of poor results this season.
Despite facing a clearly vulnerable FC Porto side last night, Man United were unable to come away with a win against the struggling Portuguese side, being held to a frustrating 3-3 draw.
In fact, it was Porto who were in the driving seat, with United grabbing a last-gasp winner thanks to Harry Maguire, who came on as a late substitute.
This disappointing result, along with questionable decisions, including the half-time substitution of Marcus Rashford, have only resulted in more criticism being directed at Ten Hag, with patience running thin for the United boss.
Following the match, former Arsenal player Pennant gave a scathing critique of Ten Hag’s performance as United’s manager on talkSPORT. In fact, he claimed that the Dutch manager has just one game left to save his job at United.
“I am gonna call him One Hag because he has got one life left. He is not Ten Hag anymore; he is One Hag. One Hag with one life left,” Pennant joked.
Still, it didn’t take long for Pennant to turn from humorous to serious as he gave a scathing review of Ten Hag’s tenure at Old Trafford.
“They’re painting over the cracks with that performance that we’ve seen previously. It’s just not good enough. And I said this before: he’s not the guy to take you forward,” Pennant insisted. He then made some side-by-side comparisons with some of United’s Premier League rivals to prove his point.
“It’s his third season now, and we’ve seen the teams around. We’ve seen Chelsea after their second season how much better they are, we’ve seen Spurs in their second season how much better they are. Man United, with this man in his third season, it’s like they’re going backwards. I can’t see performances getting better under this regime with Ten Hag.”
When asked whether he would sack Ten Hag, Pennant gave as blunt an answer as possible: “Absolutely. Oh, tick, tack, chop, boom, bye. He’s a cup man. That’s what he is; he’s a cup guy. Do you want to win some cups? Yeah, let’s sign Ten Hag. Do you want to win the league? Don’t bother.”
Pennant’s criticism comes as no surprise to loyal United fans, with the club’s continued shambolic form proving too much to bear. Failing to win either of their opening two Europa League matches against inferior opposition and sitting in 13th place in the Premier League, it’s become abundantly clear that Ten Hag is unable to improve his team’s fortunes in his third season in charge.
As United legend Paul Scholes stated following the Porto draw: “It feels like we’re regressing. We’re going the wrong way as results would suggest.”
With a challenging away match at the high-flying Aston Villa coming up on Sunday, United’s prospects for success look incredibly low, suggesting that INEOS must face the reality that giving Ten Hag more time in charge will only further damage the team’s season. Then again, if Pennant’s prediction comes true, a loss at Villa Park will result in Ten Hag’s tenure at Old Trafford coming to an end.
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