Seven-hour meeting then silence… the state of play for Ten Hag at Man Utd

Manchester United are remaining silent following the near seven-hour executive meeting by the club’s hierarchy on Tuesday.

Erik ten Hag’s future was understood to be one of many topics up for discussion, but there has been no clarification about the manager’s position in the following days.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Joel Glazer and United’s leadership group, including CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth, were filmed arriving in central London as the media spotlight remained on United and their manager’s future.

But as far as United are concerned it is business as usual, and this meeting was scheduled long before Ten Hag oversaw United’s worst start to a Premier League season.

His side have won just two of their first seven league games, and sit 14th in the table, closer to the relegation zone than fourth. No wonder there are questions being asked.

For now, United’s decision-makers are not offering any answers and for Ten Hag no news seems to be good news.

Perhaps it would be wrong to expect another message of backing, less than two weeks after the last one, which followed the dismal first-half performance in the 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham in the Premier League.

Pressure ramped up after yet another European capitulation saw United throw away a two-goal lead at Porto in the Europa League. Ten Hag needed Harry Maguire, a player he has previously been open to letting go, to rescue a point off the bench in stoppage time.

The manager appeared to give himself some breathing room after his team produced an impressive defensive display in a goalless draw at Aston Villa before the international break.

Ten Hag acknowledged the shortcomings in attack but said he was convinced he still has the backing of United’s leadership, all of whom were in attendance at Villa Park.

The gaggle of media gathered at the executive meeting, mere days later, has understandably confused onlookers, with the subsequent silence adding to the uncertainty.

But United have never given an indication that Ten Hag’s position is under threat – he has been adamant that the opposite is true – and they are under no obligation to respond to the media speculation.

Why are there question marks over Ten Hag?

INEOS have not been shy to explore other coaching options when Ten Hag has been in post. Their summer review led to them speaking to at least five other managers.

Ultimately, they decided that Ten Hag was the best option to lead the team forward and the option in his contract was activated, extending his stay until June 2026.

They also backed him to the tune of £200m in the summer transfer market, two of the five signings, Matthijs de Ligt
and Noussair Mazraoui, having previously worked with Ten Hag.

These appeared to be signs of a leadership and manager in lockstep after initial uncertainty.

Poor results followed despite the investment and that has brought about this renewed sense of concern about the manager.

United know their biggest problem is in front of goal, where they are severely underperforming their XG, they are worst in the league for it. That usually normalises.

Meanwhile, defensively they have conceded as many top-flight goals as Manchester City and Chelsea this season.

Having insisted that he was the best manager for the job in the summer and then again at the start of September, can the leadership group pull the cord on Ten Hag so quickly after they admitted the core issue at the club has been the structure?

Is three months in the new set-up enough to make a judgement call or can results no longer be ignored in spite of underlying data?