Manchester United fans are getting angry with boss Erik ten Hag because the Red Devils have had a terrible start to the season, making it look like they won’t win the Premier League.
For the first time in the history of the Premier League, United has lost three of its first five games. They will start their Champions League season away from home against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
During the first few weeks of the campaign, Ten Hag wasn’t criticized because fans were mad about things that didn’t happen on the field.
Even though the people want them to leave, the Glazer family seems to have stopped the process of selling the club.
Antony, a Brazilian winger, has been given time off to fight the claims of domestic abuse made by his ex-girlfriend.
United, on the other hand, decided last month that Mason Greenwood had no future at Old Trafford, even though abuse charges against the 21-year-old had been dropped.
Last season, United finished third in the Premier League, which got them back into the Champions League. Also, United won the League Cup, which ended a six-year title slump for the club.
But when he took Rasmus Hojlund off the field in the middle of the second half of Saturday’s 3-1 home loss to Brighton, he got booed by the crowd.
The Dutch coach tried to turn that into a sign of support for Hojlund, who was playing his first game at home after moving from Atalanta for £64 million ($79 million).
The Dane just got back into shape, and Ten Hag couldn’t afford to lose another important player by making the Dane play 90 minutes too soon.
But United’s bet that the 20-year plan will work out in the long run could be hurt if Harry Kane beats them in Germany.
Even though United needed a striker, they never tried to get the England captain from Tottenham. Instead, he went to Bayern in a deal worth 100 million euros ($110 million or £86 million).
Kane has scored four goals in his first two games, while Hojlund has yet to score for United.
Even though Bayern has won the last 11 Bundesliga titles, the club looks at how it does in the Champions League to see how it is doing.
Since they won in Lisbon in 2020, Bayern has been knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage for three years in a row.
Hansi Flick and Julian Nagelsmann left the game because of these early eliminations.
Bayern’s current manager, Thomas Tuchel, took over after Nagelsmann was fired. Nagelsmann had won all eight of his games in the Champions League. Thomas Tuchel knows that at least making it to the semis is expected in Munich.
This isn’t a new idea for Bayern or any of the few current superclubs that are sure to win their league, but the big money they spent on Kane makes winning a must now.
Sancho was punished.
United’s problems going forward are made worse by the fact that winger Jadon Sancho isn’t playing with the first team because he had a fight with his boss.
Sancho, who was bought from Borussia Dortmund for £73 million just two years ago, has been told to train alone because he said Ten Hag was looking for a “scapegoat” when he criticized his bad performance in training.
Ten Hag’s success in his first season was praised in part because of how strict he was. Not even Cristiano Ronaldo or Marcus Rashford got special treatment.
The United manager hasn’t gotten much backlash from fans for his latest decision because Sancho hasn’t lived up to his price tag.
But because of this move, Ten Hag is under more pressure to turn things around at the club by getting better results on the field.
Manchester City is already nine points ahead of United in the Premier League, so United’s performance in the Champions League is even more important to the success or failure of Ten Hag’s second season.
“It’s about character,” Ten Hag said before he went back to Munich to coach the Bayern B team from 2013 to 2015.
“Now we have to see how strong we are, how well the team sticks together, and which players are standing up, showing character, and leading the team.”