Manchester United pulled the trigger on Erik ten Hag on October 28 and Sporting manager Ruben Amorim looks set to replace him.
Amorim was tight-lipped on a potential Man Utd move recently but after the recent confirmation by Sporting that Amorim’s release clause is paid, it looks a matter of when and not if.
With that, United can finally move forward into the new era which many Man Utd fans would argue should have happened far sooner than it did.
Add Paul Scholes to that list of fans who think Erik ten Hag overstayed his welcome at United, with one game in particular making an argument that he should have been sacked far earlier.
Paul Scholes on Erik ten Hag sacking
The nature of the news, that Ten Hag has been sacked, didn’t surprise many because the results and performances were abject under the Dutchman.
However, the timing did catch some off-guard because there were no murmurs that he was on the brink. In fact, Ineos had repeatedly backed him, especially through the second international break.
If anything, it looked like he was set to face the four home games gauntlet before a decision would arrive in the third international break.
Scholes echoed similar sentiments, saying that the performances just weren’t good enough this season.
He said on the Overlap: “I feel like it’s the right decision. Anytime going back over the last six or twelve months they could have done it.
“I know he’ll go back to winning two trophies but the league is where this club should be judged. If Man United are 14th after nine games they’re getting sacked.
“There were just too many lows during his time as Man Utd manager. Some bad defeats. This season you were again thinking if it would change and it never did.”
Scholes on the game which should have got Ten Hag sacked
As Scholes says, Ten Hag oversaw some of the heaviest defeats at Man Utd, and most of them came against teams the club should be really up for.
Be it the 1-6 loss to Manchester City, the 7-0 drubbing by Liverpool, or the 0-3 loss to Spurs this season which, Ten Hag remarkably said he was ignoring because of Bruno Fernandes’ rescinded red card.
However, according to Scholes, Ten Hag should have been sacked last season itself, with the 4-0 loss at Crystal Palace the ‘worst performance’ he’s ever seen from United.
He said: “I go back to last season. I look at the Crystal Palace game and they lost 4-0. You don’t like asking for managers to be sacked, you want to give them enough chances but after seeing that Palace game I just thought that’s the end.
“I thought at the time they should have changed. I had never seen such an abject performance from Man Utd. It was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen since I can remember. It was that bad.”
He went on to say that the decision to keep him did pay off as he won the FA Cup final but in the long-term, it didn’t work out and only hurt United since they committed £200 million on new players, gave him an extension, and curated a new staff for him.
Better late than never still!
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