‘Forget Ten Hag’ – Carragher pins Man Utd blame on Sir Jim Ratcliffe after ‘extraordinary’ decision

Jamie Carragher insists the blame for Manchester United’s terrible start to the season lies with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose “extraordinary” decision is costing the Red Devils dear.

United sit 13th in the Premier League after just two wins from their opening six games and have been far from impressive in the Europa League either, with a late Harry Maguire goal required to salvage a 3-3 draw at Porto on Thursday , making it two draws in two to start the competition.

Ten Hag is under significant pressure at Old Trafford, as he was throughout last season while Sir Jim Ratliffe – who became co-owner of the club midway through the campaign – and his Ineos team conducted a thorough strategic review of the club, which included whether or not Ten Hag was the right man to take them forward.

An FA Cup final win over Manchester City rolled the proverbial in glitter and Ten Hag was handed a one-year extension at the club, with reports suggesting discussions with alternative managers had led  the hierarchy to believe that there was no-one better suited to lead them this season.

As Carragher wrote in his column for The Telegraph, that is truly ‘extraordinary’.

‘Forget Erik ten Hag. Forget the Glazers. Forget the expensive signings. And forget the previous years of underperformance.

‘If Manchester United fail to massively improve this season, the ultimate responsibility lies with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos. The latest mess is on their watch, with United already struggling to convince they are equipped to qualify for next year’s Champions League.

‘There is no point sugar-coating it. The new United hierarchy have made a deeply unimpressive start to their Old Trafford reign with one of their worst decisions being the most important any board can make. Above all, you must ensure you have the right manager. Retaining Ten Hag is proving the catalyst for another wasted campaign and possibly another £200 million down the drain.

‘At first, the noises around the head coach sounded like an astute way of securing a replacement in time for the next pre-season. By the time they decided to keep Ten Hag, it was revealed to be a fudge. Ineos froze after Ten Hag won the FA Cup and took the easy way out by giving him another chance.

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‘If Ineos was so certain it had the right man in charge, there would have been no approach to anyone else.

‘It is obvious there were serious doubts about Ten Hag’s ability to lead the rebuild. Those concerns were justified so whenever a board starts looking elsewhere, it is the beginning of the end of their relationship. It is not even that the trust has gone – it was never really there to begin with.

‘It meant Ten Hag came into this season with his standing weakened, the idea that he only stayed because ‘the owners could not find anyone better’ reflecting as poorly on Ineos as the Dutch coach. The suggestion there was no stand-out candidate who would have been the right fit for United is extraordinary.

‘It would be fascinating to know the details of the discussions between all the Ineos figureheads to hear how they reached the conclusion that they could not find anyone superior to Ten Hag, especially when planning to invest another £200 million in the squad.

‘We hear so much about the data analysis at clubs now, departments dedicated to assessing every performance detail. By what metric was it determined that no one could have outperformed Ten Hag over the past 12 months?

‘And did no one raise the issue that if sticking with him backfired, his eventual replacement might not believe Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte are the right fit for them?’

It’s Aston Villa next up in the Premier League and many pundits believe Ten Hag will struggle to make it through the international break that follows if he’s unable to get a positive result against Unai Emery’s side.