Manchester United will “pull the trigger” on Erik ten Hag if they lose to Aston Villa on Sunday and send him “back to Rotterdam”.
The Red Devils suffered their second 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford on the bounce last time out in the Premier League as Tottenham eased to victory, and they followed that up with a 3-3 draw in Porto in the Europa League to further ramp up the pressure on Ten Hag.
His side let a two-goal lead slip on Thursday with Harry Maguire scoring late having come off the bench to salvage the draw.
Jermaine Pennant was far from impressed with the United display and claimed on talkSPORT that the clash with Aston Villa at the weekend represents the Dutchman’s last chance.
“Two goals up to go two all? That is just not Man United. That was really poor,” Pennant said. “Then they’re having to bring on Harry Maguire to save the day in the 90th minute?
“Ten Hag – I’m gonna call him ‘One Hag’, because he’s got one life left. It’s not Ten Hag anymore, it’s ‘One Hag’. ‘One Hag’ with one life left.”
Co-host and ex-Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara agreed, saying: “If he gets beat at Aston Villa, I’m sorry, with an international break coming up, pull the trigger.”
Pennant added: “It’d be cheerio. If it’s a bad result, it’d be cheerio. I think they’re papering over the cracks at the moment with that performance and performances that we’ve seen previously. It’s just not good enough.
“I’ve said this before, he’s not the guy to take you forward. It’s his third season now and we’ve seen the teams around them, Chelsea after their second season are much better, Spurs in the second season how much better they are. Man United with this third season, it’s like they’re going backwards. They’re going backwards.”
“I can’t see performances getting better under this regime with Ten Hag.”
To round off the discussion, O’Hara asked the former Liverpool winger whether he would sack the Man United manager.
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “Tic Tac. Chop. Boom. Bye. Here’s your bag, thank you for your services, but get back to Rotterdam or Feyenoord or wherever he’s from.”
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Ten Hag admitted after the game that his side are “switching off” in defence.
“I think it’s mixed feelings,” said the United boss, who remains under pressure heading into Sunday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa.
“When you are winning a game… we all know this is a very tough place to go and then you start so well, the players executed the plan, I would say, brilliantly.
“We scored two great goals and then we switch it off and we don’t keep so much possession as before. Defending we’re switching off.
“We concede the first goal totally unnecessarily and then you know when you light up the fire in this stadium, in this ambience, then it’s becomes really tough.
“We addressed it in a half-time and then you concede the third one, so unnecessary. It’s not good defending again. It’s also to do with some willingness in such moments.
“But then I have to praise the guys for how they return in the game, how they fight, how we find a way to get the equaliser.
“It’s not only about in stopping time with a set play, but we also had beforehand some good chances.”
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