Exclusive: Former Liverpool ace twists the knife on Man United and says important figure is “finished” | OneFootball

It’s a performance that former Man United defender Gary Neville called disgusting on his podcast, and after the loss against Spurs at the weekend, Stan Collymore now believes Erik ten Hag is finished.

There wasn’t any part of that match against the North Londoners that United could emerge with any credit from, because they were battered in all aspects.

Allowing Micky van der Ven to run virtually the length of the field for the opener was symptomatic of what was to follow, and in the post-match analysis, ten Hag once again didn’t really get his opinion across in a succint enough manner.

Collymore is in no doubt that the coach has to go.

Erik ten Hag has to go says Collymore

“After Sunday’s Man United performance, I think Erik ten Hag is finished. By what metric are we judging him? Results? If so, his results have been poor,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.

“People were putting up graphics of Gary Neville’s Valencia team recently, and just like Neville’s time in Spain, ten Hag doesn’t have the personality, authority or gravitas to carry Manchester United football club to where they need to be.

“Whether you like it or not, and people say ‘come on, Stan, we don’t need the big personalities anymore, surely, it’s just all about the coaching,’ the fact of the matter is United need someone almost picking up, metaphorically, a flag and carrying it forward saying, ‘charge.’

“Everybody pulling in the same direction, from the players to the staff to the supporters. Don’t underestimate that feeling.”

One thing that appears to be obvious for anyone watching United’s recent games is that this isn’t a team or a squad that’s “together.” How can they purport to be with som many of their stars underperforming at the same time.

Erik ten Hag with Lisandro Martinez (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

It does appear that things are quickly coming to a head, and Collymore believes that deciding on a replacement could prove problematic.

“Looking at his potential replacement, I have 10 out of 10 respect for Gareth Southgate,” he added.

“[…] He will make Manchester United a thriving culture, because he’s very much the man for knitting the parts together of an organisation to make it function. Given half a chance at Manchester United, he will do all the right things behind the scenes.

“However, my worry is that his last club job was 20 years ago, when Middlesbrough did get relegated on his watch. Club management, as he will know, is very different on a day to day basis to being the England head coach, where you where you turn up every two or three months, albeit under immense pressure come tournament time.

“Don’t underestimate the global fan base either, the Goldbridges of this world, The United Stand, 16 different fanzines and fan groups… they will tear Southgate apart.

“I cannot foresee a situation whereby Gareth Southgate can turn around the Manchester United team quickly enough and sufficiently enough to satisfy the board or supporters, and that will only see him having to put up with insane levels of disrespect. I can’t see Graham Potter doing that job either though.

“Poch has the US job and why would Unai Emery leave a sparkling Villa side?! So it leaves the field fairly barren to be perfectly honest, and that’s why ten Hag kept the job in the first place.”

The former Liverpool striker also had words for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who appears to be advocating for a return to Old Trafford.

“I think the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stuff is ridiculous. He didn’t do the job that he was paid to do the last time, so the fact that you love him, he scored an iconic goal in a Champions League final and he’s very good with youngsters, as well as having a lovely smiley baby face… he still shouldn’t be in the conversation for one of the world’s biggest jobs,” he concluded.