Manchester United’s long-running question over Erik ten Hag is finally answered as they have sacked the Dutchman after a historically bad start to the season.
He leaves the team in 14th place in the Premier League and with a winless three games, 21st place in the Europa League.
And so the Man Utd manager job claims its latest victim who came with a lot of hope and expectation before crashing and burning at the altar of scrutiny.
The hope is that Ruben Amorim, who has ‘verbally agreed’ to become Man Utd manager, will be different, with Ineos making their first managerial choice completely of their own accord, but teething problems remain.
Roy Keane, never one to mince his words, has hinted at who’s to blame at Old Trafford for Erik ten Hag’s sacking.
Roy Keane hints at who’s to blame at Man Utd
Keane’s soundbites on the situation at United almost always gain a lot of traction with the fans because his no-nonsense style of punditry feels honest.
His stance on United and their ever-evolving door of managers has remained the same throughout the years and it has resonated with the fans.
After the latest sacking, he doubled down on it as he didn’t call out or tag the club directly, but his message clearly hinted at his feelings.
He went on Instagram and posted a picture of himself looking all serious and threatening with the message: “In good teams, coaches hold players accountable. In great teams, players hold players accountable.”
The message and its intended recipient were clear. The players have once again hidden behind the manager to get away with not doing their jobs properly in his opinion.
Is Keane completely correct this time?
While fans would agree that Keane’s words are true in the case of every previous United manager who lost the dressing room and players stopped performing for them, the same can’t be said for Ten Hag.
Sure, the performances weren’t up to scratch and West Ham being the last game for him is poetic considering how many chances the players wasted in that, but the effort wasn’t lacking.
There were no reports of dressing room disharmony or infighting among cliques or tensions with the manager that have inevitably preceded a managerial sacking at United.
In fact, Ten Hag was backed to the hill and all the potential troublemakers were sent packing at the first sign of tension, like Cristiano Ronaldo or Jadon Sancho.
That is not a privilege afforded to his predecessors so the effort to change the player power culture was clearly being made now.
Unfortunately, it was the manager who looked out of his depth this time, not to say the players are faultless, it just didn’t happen this time.
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