Man Utd: Neville ‘concerned’ at ‘big red flag’ raised by ‘placid’ Red Devils star amid Ten Hag sack talk

Gary Neville has responded to comments recently made by a Manchester United star about their poor start to the season under Erik ten Hag.

Head coach Ten Hag is under immense pressure as Man Utd have endured a miserable start to the 2024/25 campaign.

Man Utd have lost three of their opening six Premier League games and were held to a disappointing 1-1 home draw against FC Twente in the Europa League last week.

Following this result, United midfielder Christian Eriksen admitted they were “not good enough” and FC Twente “wanted it more”.

“It’s disappointing. We wanted more in the end but it wasn’t good enough. They looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right. That was said in the dressing room,” Eriksen said.

“Personally you score and think you’re going to be the matchwinner and then it goes the other way. We didn’t lose but it feels like a loss.”

READ: Man Utd are a ‘total clown car’ and Jose Mourinho was absolutely right

Ten Hag is currently the favourite to be the first Premier League manager sacked this season as Man Utd followed up their draw against FC Twente with a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Reacting to Eriksen’s comments, Neville claimed this is a “big red flag” and something Man Utd “have to be concerned about”.

“If Christian Eriksen, who I think is very calm, very placid, trustworthy, respected around not just Manchester United, but the game, comes out and says something like that, it is startling,” Neville said on the It’s Called Soccer podcast.

“He’s highlighting something that’s going on that he’s not liking, so it is a big, big, big, big red flag and it’s something that we have to be concerned about.”

MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd ‘extremely disappointed’ at Greenwood transfer after ‘key figures’ make £100m prediction
👉 Man Utd: Gary Neville snubs ‘not the most exciting’ Erik ten Hag replacement amid one concern
👉 Ferdinand singles out two Man Utd stars with ‘no pace at all’ as he accuses ETH of exposing weaknesses

Ten Hag claims Man Utd’s squad are “mad” following their loss to Spurs and he wants his players to use this as “motivation” heading into Thursday’s match against Porto.

“As always when we are not winning, we are very disappointed and we are also mad, mad with ourselves and especially when you lose a game like Sunday,” Ten Hag said at his pre-Porto press conference.

“Also after all when you had to play such a long time with 10 players and after the red card is overturned, that gives frustration because such a long time to play with 10 is of course never in your advantage and had a real impact on the game but you have to deal with it.

“We are mad and from the madness we have to get motivation and go onto the next game.”

Expanding on his claims that Man Utd are in transition, Ten Hag added: “Because of course, first season when I came in we had to replace six or seven older players, like (Juan) Mata, (Nemanja) Matic, (Paul) Pogba, (Jesse) Lingard.

“So, we started a process but also this summer we still had to replace some other players.

“We replaced them with many young players, like (Joshua) Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.

“They need time to get used to the standards of the Premier League, the standards of a club as United, especially, we have to fit them in our game model and in the standards of the league they are playing in.”