Erik ten Hag must heed the criticism as his Manchester United side seek to place their season back on track. Sunday’s woeful 3-0 defeat against Tottenham prompted boos and even some calls among supporters for the Dutchman to be sacked.
Last week, Ten Hag insisted that he listens to his most important critics. The United boss says he even finds ‘good advice’ from those who are most constructive.
This week is a better time than any for Ten Hag to prove he is open-minded and able to adapt. He must be ruthless with those who under-performed against Spurs and some players may struggle to find their way back into the Red Devils team.
"First of all, respect the criticism. When you are in the job, you have to deal with this, but I can't take every criticism into account,” Ten Hag said in his pre-match press conference.
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"I don't read, of course, all the criticism. It's not even possible but I don't want even to know. I need to know some, and some are very good advice.
"But for me it's [to] stay clinical and see where the team is, which areas we have to improve. Stay also methodical, that you guide the team in the right pathway and make sure you make the right steps to get the best out of the team."
Ten Hag’s United were guilty of the most serious crime against Spurs: A lack of effort. It comes days after Christian Eriksen admitted FC Twente “looked like they wanted it more” following a 1-1 draw with the Dutch side in the Europa League.
The man responsible for holding the players accountable for such lacklustre displays is Ten Hag. He must ensure they know there is no excuse and if that means excluding some of his best players then that is a decision he will need to make.
"The big story today is that in that first half. You can’t say it came from nowhere because Manchester United have been inconsistent all season, but they have chosen to put in their very worst performance, their very worst possible showing,” said United legend Gary Neville on Sky Sports commentary duty.
“It was an absolutely disgusting performance in that first half in effort, quality, everything you want in a football team and there are going to be questions to answer for that group and the manager in the next week.”
If Ten Hag is serious about listening to his critics then he will front up to those questions.
