Dressing room collapse at Man Utd as players are no longer listening to Ten Hag

Manchester United are sticking with Erik ten Hag for now, but mounting uncertainty over his future at Old Trafford is eroding the Dutchman’s authority in the dressing-room.

Mail Sport revealed last month that the United players expect Ten Hag to be sacked at the end of the season – a scenario that moved significantly closer following Monday’s crushing 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.

New co-owners Ineos are reluctant to make a snap decision and Ten Hag is likely to stay in charge for the remaining three Premier League games and the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

But it seems increasingly unlikely that he will survive beyond the end of the season, and insiders have spoken about how the sense of uncertainty has seeped into the dressing-room and undermined the manager’s position.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has stopped short of giving Ten Hag a vote of confidence, and face-to-face conversations between the squad and his Ineos sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford have centred on changing the culture at the club, leading players to assume the Dutchman no longer figures in Ratcliffe’s plans.

It is understood to be affecting their response to his instructions in matches and training. Although Ten Hag insisted after the Palace debacle that the players are behind him, he accused them of ‘making big mistakes, not following the plan, the script and the rules we have’.

Until now, Ineos have kept an open mind about Ten Hag’s future, partly due to the lack of good alternatives. Ratcliffe and Brailsford have focussed on building a management team, with chief executive Omar Berrada and Dan Ashworth not due to start work until the summer.

New technical director Jason Wilcox is still believed to be carrying out his initial assessment of the set-up