Dwight Yorke says Erik ten Hag's Man Utd fate will be decided over the next five days
Manchester United are down in 13th place in the Premier League after Sunday’s humiliating 3-0 Holme defeat to Tottenham, which has piled the pressure on Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag has two games to save his job, according to Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke.
United face Porto in the Europa League on Thursday, followed by a trip to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday. Former United striker Yorke, a member of the club’s Treble-winning side of 1999, claimed those two games will decide Ten Hag’s fate.
United are down in 13th place in the Premier League after Sunday’s humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham, which has piled the pressure on Ten Hag. Yorke said: “The record shows that United often get the better of Villa at Villa Park, but I think the shoe is now on the other foot.
“I think that Villa will be very, very confident. This could be the deciding factor for Erik ten Hag, too. I think it’s at that stage where Ten Hag cannot afford to lose.
“The distraction would be that we play Porto in the Europa League, and then the attention is quickly back on the Premier League, and with that comes enormous scrutiny on the back of such a heavy defeat against Tottenham.
“Villa Park is not the easiest place to go and get a result, and I’m not sure he’ll be looking forward to this.
“It could end really badly for him this week if he does not get the players back to doing what they should, in terms of digging the club out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves. This is enormous. I think this could make or break him at United to be honest.”
Yorke claimed the manner of United’s defeat to Spurs will have set alarm bells ringing within the club’s hierarchy, with the players devoid of any game-plan or belief.
“It was hard to watch, hard to take,” said Yorke. “You know you’re going to win and lose in football - and not very often would we lose at Old Trafford - but the problem is the manner of the defeat.
“Three goals against Liverpool, three against Bournemouth at home, and now three against Spurs. These are teams that would find it very difficult to come to United and get a point, let alone three.
“It’s hard to get your head around it. The biggest thing is the lack of conviction, the lack of work ethic. People talk about identity, and you can go into more detail, about your methodology and all those fancy words, but you have to show desire and earn the right to win football matches. That’s what always stuck with me from my time at United.
“So yeah, it is very hard to comprehend and to get your head around it. And for me, the biggest thing, like I said, you know, we win and we lose football games at times.
“But the lack of conviction, the lack of work ethic, You know, people talk about your identity or whatever and you can go into more details and your methodology and all of these kind fancy words.”
Dwight Yorke was talking to Prime Casino.
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