Erik ten Hag's 'idiocy' could become his Man United undoing as squad given brutal home truth

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag pictured at Carrington
-Credit: (Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)


Manchester United are gearing up for what could be a crucial week for their manager Erik ten Hag after a dismal defeat in the Premier League last weekend.

The Reds were blown away by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Sunday in a defeat which has increased speculation about Ten Hag's future. Goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke secured the win for the visitors.

MEN Sport understands Ten Hag will be in charge for the final two matches before the international break against Porto and Aston Villa. Beyond that though, it remains to be seen whether Ineos will stick with their current manager or not.

READ MORE: I nearly quit football at United now I am back in the Champions League

READ MORE: Ten Hag sack verdict delivered

In our latest look at the media headlines, there have been some damning indictments of the United squad. Here is what is circulating about the Reds 24 hours out from the Europa League clash with Porto.

Ten Hag spending branded 'idiotic'

In an interview with Ziggo Sport, Dutch legend Marco Van Basten slammed Ten Hag's spending in the transfer markets since arriving at the club in the summer of 2021. "It’s idiotic how much (Ten Hag) has decided to invest in players who are not even good," he said.

"I saw a new player walking around at Manchester United, (Manuel) Ugarte, for €50million (£42.3m). How is this guy walking around there?

"Name me one top player at Manchester United? At every club you see a top player.

"(Marcus) Rashford is very bad. Bruno Fernandes is a good player, (Andre) Onana is a good goalkeeper. That’s it. Casemiro is done. (Alejandro) Garnacho is a decent player. But nobody carries that team."

What MEN Sport says: When Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally makes his decision on Ten Hag, it could well revolve around how Ten Hag has chosen to spend his money. Some of the blame will need to be proportioned to Ineos if things don't improve this summer as they approved this window's signings. However, there is a very small list of players in that squad who are performing consistently for the club and you can argue only Lisandro Martinez at this moment could qualify as a good signing by the manager.

Former United coach hands out home truth

Former United coach Benni McCarthy singled out Fernandes and Diogo Dalot as the two best trainers at the club in a recent interview with Portuguese outlet ZeroZero. However, he offered the rest of the squad some much-needed home truths.

"If some of the Manchester United players had what Bruno and Diogo have, it would have been easier to achieve good results," he said. "They both trained with incredible concentration, giving everything they had.

"Some of the others didn’t do the same. This ended up limiting the United team’s progress, because some players weren’t training to the best of their ability.

"Even in games, the data showed us that some players were at their peak performance and others a little below. It didn’t help the team to be successful."

What MEN Sport says: It is not surprising to hear that Fernandes and Dalot are two of the best trainers at Carrington. Neither is it surprising that some of the squad trained below the required level given results of recent years. It must be infuriating for Ten Hag to see this happening in training sessions but he may not thank McCarthy for making that public knowledge. Should Ten Hag leave, quite a few in the squad will need to leave too.