Man Utd told they should be worried over clear ‘inside job’ highlighted at Euro 2024

Paul Merson reckons Austria's strong showing at the Euros suggests something's rotten at Manchester United.

Ralf Rangnick's side progressed to the knockout stages with ease despite facing France, Holland and Poland in Group D. Many tipped them to finish rock bottom of the group, but they ended up topping it after taking six points from a possible nine.

Austria are one of the few teams who have looked like a well-oiled machine out in Germany, which begs the question: why couldn't Rangnick get the Red Devils firing in a similar manner during his interim stint at the club?

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Speaking to Jeff Stelling on the Football's Greatest podcast, Merson, 56, suggested that United's players may have sabotaged Rangnick's tenure, and that something similar could be happening to Erik ten Hag.

"If I was Man United I'd be worried," he said. "I'd be looking at [Austria's performances] and thinking that's an inside job, Man United. They blame the managers. People say Ten Hag isn't good enough, Rangnick came in and was a laughing [stock]. [But] look at what he's done at Austria.

"That would worry me if I was a Man United fan. I'd go, wait a minute, he wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was. So was it the players' attitude? And is it the players behind the scenes who are mugging these managers off?"

Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the United hotseat on an interim basis in December 2021, but largely failed to steady the wobbling ship and ended the season in sixth place on 58 points, the club's worst points-total record in Premier League history.

He initially agreed to stay on at the club in a consultancy role, but his disappointing spell in charge left such a bad taste in the mouth that both parties opted to renege on the agreement.

A few days later he was appointing head coach of Austria's national team, and has gone on to win 16 of his 26 games at the helm, boasting a win percentage record nearly twice as good as the one he registered at United.

Austria face Turkey in the round of 16 on Tuesday, and a win there will set up a quarter-final clash with either the Netherlands, whom they beat in the group stage, or Romania.

A clash with England could await them in the semi-finals should they get there, though the Three Lions will have to overcome Slovakia, and then the winner of Italy vs Switzerland to make it happen.