Erik Ten Hag - An Era Comes to an End

Author: Jack Guing, Last Updated: 31.10.2024

Erik Ten Hag’s time at Manchester United officially came to an end this week, being sacked after yet another defeat, 2-1 to struggling West Ham United. It is fair to say that Ten Hag has been on borrowed time for months now and his sacking was a case of not if but when. It looked like he would be sacked at the end of last season with new owners INEOS meeting with other managers, but following victory in the FA Cup FInal versus Man City, Ten Hag was surprisingly given a contract extension. This shows bad planning from the owners, keeping a manager they did not have faith in, resulting in him getting a bigger payout because of his extension. When he became Manchester United manager Ten Hag stated that “eras come to an end” when referring to Man City and Liverpool but Ten Hag’s era has come to an end and he has failed to bridge the gap to the title chasing teams. Ten Hag’s time at Man United has been filled with good, bad and ugly.

The Good

Ten Hag’s first season at Man United could be deemed a success. The club needed to improve on their 21/22 season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralph Ragnick where they finished 6th. The 22/23 season under Ten Hag had its shaky moments but all in all it was a successful first season for Ten Hag, finishing 3rd and winning the Carabao Cup. Man United defeated Newcastle 2-0 in the 2023 Carabao Cup Final with first half goals from Casemiro and Marcus Rashford. This first season in charge gave Manchester United fans hope that they could challenge for league titles again but this did not materialise. Ten Hag’s second season in charge was much less successful with regards to their league finish recording their lowest Premier League finish of 8th place, but they did have more cup success winning the 2024 FA Cup Final beating rivals Manchester City.

The Bad

We have touched on the good parts of Ten Hag’s tenure at Manchester United, now it is time to touch on the bad moments in his time in charge. Results over the last couple of seasons that stand out as being particularly damaging are the 6-3 defeat to Man City, 0-3 defeat at home to Bournemouth, 4-0 defeat away to brentford, 4-0 defeat away to crystal Palace, 3-0 defeat away to Sevilla and most recently a pair of 0-3 home defeats to Liverpool and Spurs. There has been too many damaging defeats in Ten Hag’s time in charge where Man United were not only beaten but humiliated. Many of these poor results came at Old Trafford which makes them all the more damaging.

The Ugly

The toughest moment in Ten Hag’s term had to be when they suffered a massive 7-0 defeat to bitter rivals Liverpool in 2023. Jurgen Klopp’s side completely dismantled them. Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, and Mohamed Salah all netted braces, while Roberto Firmino added a final insult. This match not only set a modern-day record for United’s heaviest defeat against Liverpool but also left fans reeling from the historic loss. This result can be seen as the time where the pressure started on Ten Hag and fans and media began to question if he was the right man for Man United. Before this there was major positivity around the club but this result changed that.

It is fair to say that Erik Ten Hag’s time at Manchester United had to come to an end. Results were poor both in the Premier League and Europa League with United sitting 14th in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League. Ten Hag managed to win two trophies at Manchester United but they did not improve in his time at the club. He took them over after a 6th place finish and left them sitting 14th in the league and finishing 8th last season. He promised the era of Liverpool and Man City would come to an end but it is his era which has come to an end.

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