Erik ten Hag is considered to have asked to be fired by Manchester United himself, before he was finally fired. The claim was made by pundit and former Liverpool player, Stephen Warnock.
As previously reported, Man United finally officially fired Erik ten Hag from the manager’s seat on Monday (28/10/2024) night or one day after the 1-2 defeat at West Ham’s headquarters.
“Erik ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United’s first team manager.”
“We would like to thank Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him the best for the future.”
“Ruud van Nistelrooy will take over as interim head coach, supported by the current coaching team, while a permanent head coach is recruited.” That’s the official statement from the official Man United website.
Before the defeat at West Ham, Man United drew 1-1 against hosts Fenerbahce in the Europa League. In that match, Ten Hag was in the spotlight thanks to his tactics.
At that time, Ten Hag chose to play Noussair Mazraoui in the number 10 position, aka attacking midfielder. In fact, Mazraoui’s original position is a right-back.
Evidently, Mazraoui had difficulty playing that role and Man United ultimately failed to bring home full points from the visit to Istanbul.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Warnock assessed that the decision to play Mazraoui not in his original position seemed to indicate that Ten Hag wanted to tell management to fired him.
“I saw this guy and they didn’t see him, they didn’t ask him for information because it seemed ad hoc,” Warnock said.
“I mean, Mazraoui played at No 10 the other night, what does that mean? You ask to be sacked. You play left-back or right-back at No 10. It’s bizarre. It’s a loss of control. It’s a loss of respect for the dressing room.”
Before being kicked out of the Manchester United coaching chair, Erik Ten Hag confidently claimed that he would be able to change the fortunes of the Red Devils. He was sure that sooner or later Man United would be able to achieve victory after victory under his guidance.
The reason is that Man United has performed well. This can be seen in the last few matches of Bruno Fernandes et al, including against West Ham.
“Last year was no different, but in the end we managed to turn things around and we are very determined that this year will be the same,” he exclaimed on the official Man United website.
“If we can continue the way we played now against Brentford, Fenerbache and today… we will achieve it,” Ten Hag said.
Manchester United have indeed performed better. They were able to dominate the match against West Ham, especially in the first half.
However, Man United failed to convert every opportunity they got, including opportunities from Alejandro Garnacho and Diogo Dalot. Erik Ten Hag had admitted that he believed his team would be able to overcome this problem and score many goals in the future.
“I believe in my team, it’s not about correcting them, it’s about trusting them for the next game. I believe my players are capable of doing this,” he said.
“I believe in them and encourage them to keep going. They have done this for a long time in this game and other games.”
“In the end we will score goals and we will win more games,” concluded Ten Hag.
