Erik ten Hag is breathing slightly easy after the 2-1 win vs Brentford but holistically, things need to improve far more in the coming weeks to save the season.
Manchester United are still only 12th in the Premier League, winless in the Europa League, and generally struggling to get results which resulted in pressure on Erik ten Hag.
Ineos might have decided to keep him now but no backing is unquestionable so he needs to get his team on a winning run to avoid scrutiny again.
Thomas Frank has emerged as a candidate for the Man Utd job after Thomas Tuchel chose England and rightly so.
The Dane has done a brilliant job at Brentford with limited resources and Frank has now broken his silence on Man Utd links with pretty enticing, if balanced remarks.
Thomas Frank on Man Utd links
It is not the first time Frank has been linked as Man Utd manager but after Tuchel came off the market, the prospective pool of candidates makes him a standout one.
Of the managers out of a job, Graham Potter is another and if United want a long-term project, Kieran McKenna can be bought out from his Ipswich contract.
However, Frank has a history of consistently working under a structure and overachieving massively with young, undiscovered gems.
That is a philosophy straight from the Ineos playbook and his success is more recent, while Potter’s last spell at Chelsea was a nightmare and McKenna is navigating the struggles of establishing in the Premier League which Frank has already done.
Frank was recently on The Sports Agents podcast and talked about moving to a ‘big’ club and how he sees that opportunity.
He said: “Things can happen and you can want to new inspiration or maybe also find another inspiration at this club and stay for long.
“If I ever got the offer from a bigger club and I decided to go there, it probably wouldn’t make my life better. But that’s maybe a challenge you need to try.”
While giving this answer, he added the qualifier that he believes he is at ‘one of the best clubs in the world’ in terms of people working in the structure and how comfortable he feels in the middle of it all.
Therefore, it is quite clear that United will have to make a brilliant pitch to him if they ever decide to make a move and he will only leave for the opportunity he feels is absolutely right instead of rushing into it because of the prestige of the job.
How long should Man Utd back Erik ten Hag?
For starters, the answer to this question should always be- As long as he is winning! However, that stage has long passed since he hasn’t been ‘winning’ for more than a season now.
It can be argued that a victory in a single game- the FA Cup final, is still keeping him in the job because in the last 16 Premier League games, (eight this season and the last eight previous season) United have won just 23 points with a goal difference of -2.
That is borderline relegation zone, definitely bottom-half form and previous Man Utd managers have been sacked for much less.
Injuries, then upheaval in the United executive structure have kept him in the job but if results don’t improve soon, the mitigating factors will be overpowered by the sheer need for wins.
United face six more games before the next international break and after winning vs Brentford, they should ideally finish with at least five wins from seven with no losses to get the campaign back on track.
Anything less than four wins should have Ineos seriously contemplating whether the Dutchman should be in the job for the breathless part of the season following the third international break.
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