Tuesday night saw Manchester United slump to a 4-3 defeat to top FC Copenhagen which has left their hopes of qualifying from their Champions League group in a precarious situation. United currently find themselves bottom of their group with two group games to go and a tricky away trip to Turkey to take on Galatasaray. We sat down with former Manchester United defender Paul Parker to assess the damage from last night’s defeat and the future of manager Eric ten Hag.
In this article:
- Fans don’t want ten Hag sacked
- Agents are behind ten Hag rumours
- Varane and his excuses
- Varane’s mentality questioned
Fans Don’t Want ten Hag Sacked
Just as it seemed Manchester United might be reversing their fortunes with a 1-0 victory over Fulham at Craven Cottage, they suffered a 4-3 loss to FC Copenhagen, despite having a 2-0 lead. The situation was compounded by a straight red card leading to Marcus Rashford’s suspension, casting a shadow over the result. Now, United faces two crucial matches: an away game against Galatasaray and a home fixture against Bayern Munich. With the pressure mounting on Erik ten Hag, the manager is expected to secure wins promptly. Parker suggests that ten Hag should be granted time to enact a turnaround.
“It doesn’t make any justification to get rid of Erik ten Hag to be perfectly honest. He is caught in the same wind tunnel as every other Man United manager has been since 2013.
“All they would do if they sacked him would be to keep feeding their own monster. I think he should be allowed to get the opportunity to manage in a club with a proper structure. He had that at Ajax and hopefully he can get that at Man United one day as well.
“It’s so easy to go out and sack him on Social Media because he is losing games but I honestly don’t believe that the majority of the fans would like him to get sacked.”
Agents Are Behind ten Hag Rumours
Whilst questions are starting to be asked of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag Parker disputes the idea that there is any substance to the murmurs. He believes a lot of the fog hanging over Manchester United and ten Hag is due to agents pushing their clients to the club in the hope of getting ten Hag sacked.
“I think that agents are causing a lot of problems and there are a lot of agents who would love one of their own managers to coach Manchester United.
“Especially now with the new ownership, a lot of agents are approaching Man United and trying to push for them to sack Erik ten Hag. It’s cruel but that’s how it is.
“What will happen is that the agent will get some of his players from the same staple as well to sign for Manchester United and then you have this circle of people who are not working for the club but to fill their pockets.”
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Varane And His Excuses
The future of Raphael Varane has been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks. Varane was dropped for the Manchester derby for tactical reasons and has since struggled to find his way back into the line up. His mistake against FC Copenhagen led to United conceding the fourth and final goal of the game. Parker believes there’s a reason behind ten Hag choosing to drop Varane and blasts the Frenchman for making excuses.
“Before the season even started Varane was already moaning because of the extra minutes being added to the game.
“It was so wrong of him to come out and say that. Maybe, only maybe, I would have understood it, if it came from Martinez because he is a different character than Varane, but when it was coming from him it made absolutely no sense.
“He was making excuses already even though playing a few extra minutes doesn’t make any difference, especially not for him as he never wants to play anyway.
“He seems a bit soft to me and with the amount of games already, something must be wrong. Right now, the manager is letting him sit there on the touchline and there must be a reason for that.”
Varane’s Mentality Questioned
Parker remains highly critical and questions the mentality of Varane who has won almost every competition there is to win in football including 4 Champions League medals. He also believes that the returning Johnny Evans is more reliable than the likes of Harry Maguire and Varane who should be ahead of Evans in the pecking order.
“I don’t know what the reason is and I don’t want to take a guess but there must be a reason why he is doing that.
“Erik ten Hag can’t rely on Varane or Maguire. He can rely on Jonny Evans, much more than the other two, to be honest.
“I’m very worried about how strong Varane is mentally. Football is giving him a lot, and it’s giving him what he loves, allegedly, so he got to give a bit back to his teammates.
“He can’t wait until he is 100% fit, you will never be 100% fit in football. He is getting loads of money so in my opinion he should start helping his teammates.”
