Gary Neville believes that one Manchester United player has an almost impossible job in Erik ten Hag’s system and that he feels ‘sorry’ for him.
This season under Erik ten Hag has been a disastrous one for Manchester United as the club finished eighth in the Premier League and failed to get out of a UEFA Champions League group that contained FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
Ten Hag could well end the season with an FA Cup trophy if his side can beat Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, who are looking for yet another league and cup double.
The Dutchman’s future at the club is certainly under scrutiny but a win on Saturday may well rescue his job and give him a third season at Old Trafford.
Neville on player’s ‘impossible job’ at United
Writing on The Overlap’s newsletter, Gary Neville has admitted that he feels sorry for Danish forward Rasmus Hojlund, who has had a mixed debut season at Old Trafford under the Dutchman’s tutelage.
After excelling in the Champions League for the Red Devils, Hojlund found goals hard to come by in the Premier League and only netted his first goal in the competition in the boxing day victory over Aston Villa.
From then on, the Dane went on an electric goal scoring run before the goals dried up in March and April. Hojlund netted two goals in the final two games of the season.
“Watching Hojlund, I felt sorry for him. You talk about the difficulty United have had putting out a consistent back four this season. But it’s the same up front,” Neville wrote.
“Hojlund doesn’t know what the pattern of play is, whether the wide player is going to go to the line or come inside. You can see he’s making good runs all the time and then the wide man will come back inside and there will be a 15-pass sequence.
“Another time he’ll drop in and try to join in with that and that will inevitably be the time the wide man decides to get to the line and cross it. Until United can establish a consistent pattern of play, being centre-forward in that team will be an impossible job.”
Ten Hag’s future
HITC reported at the beginning of May that Ten Hag did not know himself whether he would remain at Old Trafford past the end of this season but a decision will surely be made soon.
The 52-year-old has had a disappointing season and the tactics set up by the Dutchman have not brought out the best in Hojlund, but the Dane still has 16 goals to his name with one match to play.
Delaying a decision on the Dutchman’s future is also understood to be delaying transfer business, so a decision on the former Ajax boss is surely expected soon.
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