Expert Kaveh Solhekol of England’s leading media agency affirmed that coach Erik ten Hag has lost the support of many players, since the conflict with Jadon Sancho and his declining performance.
“According to the information I have, some Man Utd players are dissatisfied with what is going on,” Solhekol wrote on Sky Sports. “Ten Hag has lost the essential elements to manage the dressing room. A source told me half of the Man Utd dressing room no longer trusts him.”
According to this expert, the undercurrent is growing after the 0-1 loss to Newcastle in round 14 of the Premier League last weekend – Man Utd’s 10th defeat in all competitions this season. They doubt Coach Ten Hag’s coaching style and believe that he is too authoritarian and does not want to accept opinions from the players.
Before losing to Newcastle, Man Utd won three consecutive wins in the Premier League against Fulham, Luton and Everton. They kept clean sheets in all three of these matches. However, fans have reason to think that Ten Hag has turned the “Red Devils” into a mid-range club. Since August 2022 – the time the Dutch coach started working, Man Utd has not won any matches against teams in the top 9 in the Premier League (one draw, 10 losses).
“Some Man Utd players are not satisfied with the home team’s playing style. They also feel they have to train too hard and lose too much energy in training sessions,” Solhekol further revealed. “I was told that the players don’t understand why they run so much. A few veteran players also shared their feelings about the club with Ten Hag. They talked about their experiences playing at other big clubs and their feelings. I think the coach needs to be more open.”
Also according to this journalist, a group of Man Utd players believe that Ten Hag needs to improve its personnel management capacity. They even compared Ten Hag’s rigid way of working to a robot.
In early September, Man Utd’s internal affairs became chaotic when Jadon Sancho posted an article implying that Ten Hag was a liar. Previously, the 53-year-old coach criticized Sancho for not training hard enough, so he was removed from the squad in the Arsenal match. As a result, Sancho was banished to the reserve team by Ten Hag and isolated from the first team until now. Ten Hag’s behavior in this case seemed to upset a few other players. “There are players who are close to Sancho and are sad when their teammates are isolated. Sancho has to practice with young players and eat alone. Some Man Utd players think that Ten Hag has taken the matter too far. Always There are dissatisfied players in the dressing room. But when they lose a match, this number tends to increase,” Solhekol wrote.
Currently, Man Utd ranks seventh in the Premier League with 24 points – nine points less than top-ranked Arsenal. They also face the risk of being eliminated from the Champions League group stage, as they are in last place with four points. In the last round, they need to win against Bayern Munich, and hope that the two opponents with the same five points, Copenhagen and Galatasaray, draw.