After tepid Man United display, is Ten Hag’s sacking looming?،
LONDON, England – Erik ten Hag says he “doesn't care” about speculation surrounding his future as Manchester United manager, but it's days like this that will only strengthen the argument that he is expected to lose his job this summer.
The 1-1 draw against Brentford hurts United's bid to get back into the race to qualify for the Champions League, but it was the manner in which the performance at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday did the most damage to the Ten Hag's attempt to stay. in his current role. Second fastest of the night, United looked to have secured a resounding victory when Mason Mount scored in the 96th minute.
Ten Hag and his team celebrated like they knew they were out of jail, but just as assistant Steve McClaren stuck his head out to tell United's defenders to show match intelligence to see the game , Brentford launched a hopeful ball into the box and Ivan Toney cut out his pass for Kristoffer Ajer to get a deserved equalizer.
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After Tottenham and Aston Villa both won their matches earlier today, a point doesn't do much for United's hopes of playing in the Champions League next season, but in reality they were lucky to return to Manchester with anything. Ten Hag are already on ice as new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team chart the way forward and Brentford, a team battling relegation, have made another significant crack.
“We didn’t deserve to win, but if you win, you have to accept,” Ten Hag said afterwards. “I would say normally we are good in such circumstances if we score before time runs out.
“We showed resilience throughout the game, but in terms of aggression Brentford were better. We should show more passion and desire at many points in the game, but when you win [so late in the game] you should get him over the line.
Following the dramatic extra-time FA Cup win over Liverpool before the international break, Ten Hag spoke of using the high to ensure he finishes the season strong. But any retained momentum lasted 15 minutes and from there the question became whether Brentford would score or not.
Brentford had 85 touches in the Manchester United box this evening – the most by any team in a Premier League match in the last three seasons.
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Toney, fresh from his first England goal against Belgium, hit the inside of the post and Mathias Jørgensen saw a header skim the top of the crossbar. André Onana made a double save in front of Yehor Yarmoliuk and Keane Lewis-Potter. Yoane Wissa, who caused United problems all night in the yawning gap between defense and midfield, fired a shot wide and Toney sent a volley over the top.
Toney eventually thought he had given Brentford the lead only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Moments later, substitute Bryan Mbeumo smashed an effort onto the crossbar with Onana beaten. For Brentford it was that kind of night and if you didn't know any better you certainly wouldn't have guessed it was the home side who are just two wins from their last 18 games .
“There should have only been one winner in the game, it could only have been us,” said Brentford manager Thomas Frank. Then you lose 1-0 in the 96th minute and you think football is brutal. I almost lost faith in the football god but he gave back a little. What a performance.
“We had the most shots in the history of the Premier League. The fact that we didn't win is unbelievable. It was more or less the perfect performance,” Frank added.
Along with Anfield and the Etihad Stadium, the Gtech was already the scene of one of Ten Hag's worst days as United manager. The Dutchman lost his first Premier League away game here 4-0 in August last season and while it was a better result, it was another horror show of a performance.
Brentford, bottom of the Premier League table, had 31 shots and an xG of 3.19, but at the other end Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken was barely troubled until he had to pull the Mount's left-footed shot off the net in stoppage time. It's now nine times in their last 11 games that United have conceded 20 or more shots.
Mount's first goal for United and his first goal for Chelsea in December 2022, coupled with Lisandro Martínez's return from injury as a second-half substitute, were the only positives for Ten Hag, who is once again under immense pressure before the matches against Chelsea and Liverpool. next week.
Already 11 points behind Aston Villa and eight points behind Spurs, two more performances like this and any hopes of saving Champions League football will be all but over and Ten Hag's hopes of saving his job may well disappear with it .