Erik ten Hag and Andre Onana targeted by media: Manchester United supporters have had enough

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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag deserves support, amid an agenda from the media to undermine him.

Losing three games in succession was a recipe for disaster at Manchester United, who are teetering on crisis mode.

Defeat to either Burnley this weekend or Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup next week will deepen the negativity at Old Trafford. It is essential to get back on track.

What isn’t needed, is the embarrassing anonymous leaks claiming to come from the Old Trafford dressing room.

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Media agenda

Like clockwork, the Manchester Evening News makes claims purporting to be from the dressing room that players are unhappy with Erik ten Hag.

The report says: “A number of Manchester United players are starting to grow weary of Erik ten Hag’s criticism. Dressing room sources have said that some players believe Ten Hag has favourites in the squad who he is unprepared to single out for criticism, while they feel others are routinely rounded on by him.”

These are probably the same players who failed to track back against Bayern Munich and have displayed poor effort levels in recent matches. Whether true or not, these reports are totally unhelpful, and as they are attributed anonymously, they do plenty of harm, and no good.

If these leaks sound familiar, it’s because the agenda has been there since Erik ten Hag’s first month, after a couple of early defeats before he turned it around.

The Manchester Evening News reported leaks against the manager as early as in August 2022: “Some United players feel Ten Hag’s approach does not suit their skill set,” with a “more pragmatic approach” preferred.”

The team won against Liverpool days later, and Ten Hag went onto have a successful season.

Some media thrive on this negativity. The same type of leaks were prevalent under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, and Jose Mourinho.

At a certain point, fans see through it, get fed up, and rally round the manager, rather than getting sucked into the negativity.

Manchester United fans have had enough of this. This cycle of dressing room leaks undermining a manager has to stop, especially when in some cases it may even be the same players.

There has been a strong backlash on social media against the latest MEN article, which has been good to see. However, if United do lose to Burnley this weekend, the team’s form will become a major concern and Erik ten Hag really will be under real pressure.

Andre Onana

Another player targeted by the media is goalkeeper Andre Onana, who was poor against Bayern Munich in midweek.

However, sometimes he needs a bit of a break. He knows he must improve, and he has admitted it, and he will.

But the media are determined to kick a man while he’s down. The Mail ran pictures of Onana dropping his keys, writing a whole article about it, titled: “Andre Onana’s handling woes continue as he drops his car keys at Man United training after Bayern loss.”

Give him a break. You wouldn’t see this kind of coverage at any other club. And while it goes with the territory of Manchester United, that doesn’t mean fans have to like it or accept it.