Erik ten Hag’s last stand: Man Utd’s bumbling manager must beat Aston Villa to save his job – lose & INEOS will have no choice but to put Dutchman out of his misery

It’s some sort of minor miracle that Erik ten Hag is still employed by Manchester United.

There have been far, far too many points of infamy over the last 12 months of his Old Trafford reign. The Coventry City FA Cup semi-final, the 100th-minute collapse at Chelsea, leading Brentford on minute 96 before being pegged back on minute 98, the Selhurst Park massacre, thrashing after thrashing and humbling after humbling.

It would be difficult for players of Football Manager and EAFC to recreate these ludicrous feats in fictional worlds, let alone allow them to play out in reality.

Every time you think the Red Devils have turned a corner, they lurch back into habits of old. There is no learning from past failures, only the doom to repeat them.

And so United are stuck in a loop. Ten Hag supposedly has one more chance to break that cycle – or else it will surely be his head on the chopping block.

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  ‘One game to save his job’

  United have opened the season with a measly three wins from nine across all competitions, including two from six in the Premier League. Those victories have come against Fulham, newly-promoted Southampton and League One outfit Barnsley – hardly an all-star cast.

  Ten Hag’s notion that his side can compete with the best in the world on their day has come undone already this term. Both Liverpool and Tottenham have effectively walked into Old Trafford, sat the hosts down and tied them to a chair with duct tape while they ransacked the place. No no, you help yourselves to more goals, chaps.

  The Sun now report that Ten Hag has only one more chance to prove he is the man for the job. If his side fail to get a result at Aston Villa on Sunday, then it could be curtains for him.

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    Competence vs incompetence

    There have been many, many think-pieces calling out Ten Hag for failing to instil an identity upon his United team.

    Few have come to recognise that the Red Devils’ inability to stay out of their own way is who they are.

    All of United’s major wins and results since the start of last season have come as a result of their baffling tactics somehow swinging back in their favour. When games are purposely chaotic and without control, then sometimes you might just strike it lucky. It isn’t a sustainable tactic for a serious football team.

    Take their two fixtures against Villa last season, for example. Unai Emery’s men, at that point, were a little overeager as they pursued a top-four finish, and twice allowed United to grow into open games, with Ten Hag’s men doing the double over the Villans.

    If Ten Hag is hoping for a similar game this Sunday, though, he will be sorely mistaken. Villa have managed to mature quickly in recent months and are riding a wave of confidence after beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier this week.

    The hostile Villa Park atmosphere has contributed to some of the hosts’ most impressive results under Emery, who has issued a rallying cry ahead of this weekend’s match.

    “On Sunday, we will need the same atmosphere with the supporters at Villa Park like on Wednesday,” he said.

    “I have no doubt they will be there to help and support us to transmit their energy so we can get three points. Manchester United, it is a very difficult match. The players must be really focused to get a strong structure tactically, defensively and offensively.”

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      Superstar Duran could land fatal blow

      Labelling Jhon Duran a ‘superstar’ for his 2024-25 exploits is both under and over-selling him. Sure, it’s still only October, but at times he has performed beyond even ‘superstar’ and instead looked more ‘superhuman’.

      The Colombian is thriving and feasting so far this season, with six goals – most of them absolute worldies to boot – in nine games.

      Samu Omorodion made mincemeat of United’s defenders on Thursday night, and the almost too-obvious outcome this Sunday is for Duran to run them similarly ragged.

      The scary thing for United is Duran isn’t even Villa’s first-choice striker, with Ollie Watkins still head honcho. But the 20-year-old’s introduction from the bench is inevitable, and boy is he going to be licking his lips at the prospect of tearing through a tired defence.

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      Losing the dressing room?

      What is already an uphill battle for Ten Hag could become an almighty mutiny if he isn’t careful.

      He has spent over £600m in three years assembling a team that is firmly his. No longer can he claim that he is adjusting his tactics to suit the need of a squad not totally in his image.

      And yet he is running the risk of disillusioning some of his closest allies in the dressing room.

      He hooked his new centre-back pairing of Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez – both of whom he worked with at Ajax – during Thursday’s draw with Porto, while Marcus Rashford came in for criticism post-match.

      “I have to watch it back and over the left side, definitely we didn’t defend well tonight,” Ten Hag said. “Marcus also played a part in this but as I say, it had to do with [Alejandro] Garnacho coming on – and nothing against Rashford.”

      Meanwhile, after Christian Eriksen claimed FC Twente players wanted it more than United’s in last week’s 1-1 draw, Harry Maguire blamed the squad’s fragile mentality for letting the lead slip at Porto.

      “I think it’s more the mental issue [conceding twice in quick succession] and it’s something we have to overcome. It probably starts with belief,” Maguire said.

      “When we go 2-0 up and concede, does the belief go a little bit between the boys that we can go on and win the game here? So it’s something we need to be aware of.”

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      A marriage of inconvenience heading for divorce

      Put plainly, does anyone seriously expect Ten Hag to last the season? What has changed from last year, aside from most of the injuries which seemed to previously plague his team clearing up?

      INEOS’ decision to stand by their incumbent manager over the summer is looking more questionable with each passing game. They may claim there was no one better for the job, but now that sentiment has flipped and surely there are few candidates who could be doing worse.

      United’s new decision-makers need to differentiate themselves from the previous regime calling the shots at Old Trafford, and so they cannot continue with Ten Hag purely out of stubbornness and pride. The club must come first regardless of all else.

      Those upstairs appeared to let one game, the FA Cup final, previously decide Ten Hag’s fate. They shouldn’t really be wooed by another unlikely victory should one come to pass.

      There’s also a different perspective to consider. Perhaps the question for Ten Hag to ponder now is would he rather die on his knees or try and live on his feet? Will his almost inevitable United exit leave him with his pride intact, or is he going to go down in a bitter blaze of anti-glory? Are United going to at least try and learn from their errors, or play the same episode on repeat one last time and let Villa run up the score?

      Every manager gets sacked, but Ten Hag can’t allow his reputation to plummet to a level where people forget about what he has done well to achieve already in his career.