The walls are closing in on Ten Hag at Man United after their defeat to West Ham
David Moyes knows how this feels. What it is like to sense the walls closing in at Manchester United. Dark murmurings behind your back. Knives being sharpened.
It is coming up for a decade since Moyes was shown the door at Old Trafford just 10 months into the job with United in seventh place — the same spot they occupied in the Premier League coming into this game.
By the time he shook hands with Erik ten Hag at London Stadium, United were eighth and in danger of going into freefall.
Now it is Ten Hag’s turn to feel the heat. It would be crass to make wisecracks about turkeys and Christmas, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe would have been watching this and time is running out for Ten Hag to show that he is the man to lead United into a new era.
This was his 20th defeat of the calendar year, the most since 1989. United failed to score for the fourth game in a row for the first time since 1992.
‘We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,’ said Ten Hag. ‘We have to take responsibility. If you are playing for Manchester United, we have to do it together and everyone has to be accountable.
‘In 2023, we won a cup, we played the FA Cup final, we were third in the league. There were highlights but we were overperforming. In this moment, we are underperforming. We have to be calm, stick together, stick to the plan and do it together.’
There is no doubt that injuries have crippled Ten Hag this season: not just the numbers but the names he has lost.
Perhaps his last hope is that Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez return in January to save the day. Christian Eriksen, another key player last season, rejoined the squad for the first time in six weeks here. Raphael Varane was ill and had to be replaced by teenage debutant Willy Kambwala, with Harry Maguire and
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