Erik ten Hag to stay, but Manchester United should have moved for Mauricio Pochettino
As reported by the Manchester Evening News, Manchester United have decided to stick with Erik ten Hag for the 2024/25 season.
Despite reports claiming otherwise, the new INEOS sporting ownership of Man United had publicly announced their wish to conduct a thorough end-of-season review before deciding whether or not to stick with the Dutch manager.
After weeks of deliberation, they have finally made a call. But have they made the right one?
Too many cracks; Pochettino could eliminate them
Optics play a huge role in football, whether we like it or not. They were not in favour of Ten Hag in the lead-up to the FA Cup final, a game few thought United would have any chance of winning.
And yet they did. And so, the narrative swung. All of a sudden, Ten Hag went from the guy who didn’t know what he was doing to the genius that had delivered United their second trophy in just over 12 months after what had been a six-year trophy drought.
Unquestionably, trophies are the bread and butter of any manager and important for a club like United, but the FA Cup papered over cracks, a lot of cracks, that had surfaced over the course of the 2023/24 season.
Many would say the cracks were simply too much to be pushed aside on the back of a trophy lift. After all, shouldn’t the league form be United’s priority? And what did the league form reflect as United registered their lowest-ever Premier League finish in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era?
Incompetent, unworthy, unsatisfactory—that’s what United were in the 2023/24 Premier League season, and comprehensively so. They also failed to get out of a Champions League group featuring Galatasaray and Copenhagen. Even taking into account that progress isn’t always linear, this is simply too much of a fall from the third-place, Carabao Cup-winning United that Ten Hag presented in his first year, one that at least had a sense of tactical identity about them.
United had a chance to get ahead of the curve here and do something bold. Something better. Something to indicate they were heading into the right direction after all.
And they blew it. Mauricio Pochettino, forever a darling of Man United fans, having been dismissed by Chelsea, was right there to be picked up. Someone who knows the league, knows what it’s like to compete at the top in this league, and is known for attractive football that bleeds identity through and through.
United have been linked with Pochettino since his Spurs days. And now, when they had the chance to pick him up, they have again chosen to do the thing many would consider less prudent and stick with the manager they have, just like they did with Ole Gunnar Solskjær as Pochettino waited for them the last time only to go to PSG instead.
Conclusion
Manchester United have chosen to stick with Erik ten Hag, and they shouldn’t have. They should have instead thanked the Dutchman for delivering two trophies in two years and moved him on.
Many would consider this a ruthless decision, but it would not have been one without guile. United are a club wanting to be at the very top; this is how the top clubs act.
The season Ten Hag delivered at Old Trafford should have given him the sack regardless of silverware, and the man forever destined to take the managerial seat at the Theatre of Dreams should finally have been allowed to do just that.
More Manchester United News-
- “Should be at the top of their list”- Chelsea target told to snub Blues for Manchester United transfer
- Thomas Tuchel rules himself out of Manchester United job; Euro 2024-bound manager ‘heavily linked’
- Manchester United star sends emotional farewell message to Marco Reus after memorable season together
The matter is done for now, however. Only time will tell if Ten Hag manages to capitalise on this opportunity. But we can very well expect Pochettino to remain linked with the Red Devils seat in the coming years.
