Gary Neville says Eric ten Haag will not be under pressure to win trophies for at least three years, this is the scale of the work he has to restore Manchester United.
The Ajax boss was appointed as United’s new manager on Thursday and will take over as interim head coach Ralph Rangnik over the summer.
Sixth United are currently hiding from a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool and Neville say Ten Haag has a lot of work to do before he and his team can compete with Jurgen Klopp’s team for major honors.
“What we are seeing at the moment is unacceptable,” Neville said. “We have to deal with that first and Ten Hag has a lot of work to do to get the club back to those minimum standards it has to meet, namely attitude, work ethic, faith, confidence and then we hope you start thinking about winning trophies. .
“But honestly, I wouldn’t put too much pressure on Ten Haag for the first year or two to win a trophy at the club. It would be great if he did, and I think he would excel.
“It will be: get into the top four, restore Man United to the Champions League, attract players to the club who can play the way he wants to play, and then get a belief system.
“It took Jürgen Klopp four or five years to win a Premier League title, as great a job as he is. it’s a million miles away now.
“At the end of last season, I thought they were getting closer. But everything fell apart. I don’t know why this happened. Ten Hag must collect the pieces.
“So the initial phase: build the foundations of what he wants to achieve, then the third, fourth, fifth year is when you start looking at him to win trophies.
Neville warns of long-term damage to Man United players
Liverpool’s big win on Tuesday followed a 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford in October, and United also suffered heavy defeats from Premier League leader Manchester City this term.
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Gary Neville says new manager Eric ten Haag will have to repair the long-term damage caused by recent poor performance.
Neville believes that the impact of these results and United’s unfortunate form, which has led them to win in just four of their last 14 games, could affect players’ career paths – and Ten Hag may need to take that into account. when judging which of the current team he wants to take with him on the trip.
“The players have completely lost their confidence and faith,” Neville said. “They don’t want to play football for Manchester United at the moment. It’s not that they don’t want to play football for the club – they don’t want to play football. They want the season over.
“You can see it in their eyes when they warm up, when they go out, when they play. They just want these matches to end. But the problem is that there is no hiding place in this club. They have Arsenal on Saturday, Chelsea next Thursday, where all eyes will still be on them and they will have to try to appear. They need to find something somewhere.
“I want to be careful when I say that there is long-term damage, but the psychological impact of what is happening at the club at this time, with the types of damage they suffer, the type of criticism they receive, the fans booing them, this there will be a lasting effect on some of these guys to the point where Ten Hag will have to decide if it can restore it – and with some of them it may fail. It’s getting so bad.
“There is a lot of work to be done in many different aspects. The first thing is to decide who he wants to keep, who is there at the moment, and then he has to decide who he wants to come in with, to make sure that this trust, this belief that the spirit in the locker room can begin to. increases. “
“Ranknik will tell Ten Hag who should go”
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Gary Neville says Eric ten Hague will have to be given time to bring back Manchester United’s success in the form of trophies.
Recruitment will be a key focus, with Ranknik saying he could need up to 10 new players after the defeat of Anfield United. But deciding who leaves the club to make way for these newcomers will also be important, as Sky Sports News understands that Ten Hag will tell United players that it does not want any passengers at the club.
Neville expects interim Chief Rangnik, who has seen the current team up close and personal, to have strong views on who should stay and who should leave.
“Recruiting is the most important job in a football club,” he said. “If you confuse the players, you will fight.
“Manchester United have repeatedly turned to different philosophies over a period of 10 years. There were times when I believed they were on the right track, but how everything fell apart in the last 8-10 months, from the Europa League final to where it is now. is alarming.
“I can’t explain it. I don’t think any Manchester United fan can explain it, or maybe someone at the club can explain why it went from a level that wasn’t at the very top, but it’s certainly going in the right direction, until the locker room seems broken in spirit, in energy, in faith in each other, in liking each other as a group.
“Rangnik had four or five months to evaluate the locker room. I’m sure they’ll have a lot of direct conversations about who to get rid of.
“This is at the top of Rangnik’s language in every interview he does, and you feel that at some point he will become a fraud and start calling players. He does it in groups, he doesn’t do it individually yet, but there is no doubt that Rangnik will pass on this very specific information about who Ten Hag needs to get rid of – and I’m sure Ten Hag will listen to him and accept that. “
Will Ten Hag enter football in the Champions League?
Man United are currently sixth in the Premier League, three points away from the top four, but have played more than Tottenham (fourth) and Arsenal (fifth). Will they enter the Champions League? Here are their other matches …
- April 23 – Arsenal (a) Premier League
- April 28 – Chelsea Premier League (h), live on Sky Sports
- May 2 – Brentford Premier League (h), live on Sky Sports
- May 7 – Brighton Premier League, live on Sky Sports
- May 22 – Crystal Palace (a) Premier League
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