Neville: 'Man Utd is a graveyard for players and coaches'

Former captain Gary Neville believes Man Utd is no longer a place for players and coaches to thrive, and expressed sympathy for Erik ten Hag.

"Man Utd have become a graveyard for managers and players. That's not too strong a term," Neville told talkSPORT on October 5. "There have been very few players who have exploded at Man Utd in the last 10 years. They were all excellent players when they came to Man Utd, many teams were chasing them. But in the end, these players have not been successful and have not shown their form, why is that?".

Ten Hag is the fifth manager to sign a long-term contract with Man Utd since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Last season, he started promisingly when he helped the "Red Devils" finish third in the Premier League, return to the Champions League and win the League Cup - the club's first title since 2017. This season, the Dutch coach has faced more difficulties, even Man Utd is having the worst start in the club's history, with six defeats in ten matches in all competitions.

Neville in an interview with Ten Hag of Sky Sports. Photo: SK

Ten Hag now has the same Premier League loss ratio as Ralf Rangnick - who replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a temporary basis - at 29%, with Rangnick losing seven of his 24 games, while Ten Hag has lost 13 of his 45 games.

In the Champions League, the 2-3 home defeat to Galatasaray in the second round of Group A in the middle of the week left Man Utd with a series of terrible statistics. This is the first time they have lost both first rounds of the Champions League group stage, after losing 3-4 at Bayern Munich in the opening round. Therefore, the "Red Devils" are at the bottom of the table, ranked above by Copenhagen with one point, Galatasaray with four points and Bayern with six points.

Man Utd have also lost seven of their last 14 home Champions League games (W5 D2) - as many as in their previous 96 games in the competition (W67 D22). They have lost six and conceded 18 goals in 10 games in all competitions this season - their worst tally since they conceded 20 goals in their first 10 games in 1966-67. With 19 goals conceded, Sheffield United are the only Premier League club to have conceded more than Man Utd this season.

However, Neville expressed sympathy and said the Dutch coach was not at fault. "I know a lot of people will say that Ten Hag has to do a lot better, but there are a lot of big problems at the club that managers have found over the last 10 years. I think until those problems are solved, Man Utd will continue to underperform, players will not play at their best," the former England defender added.

Sky Bet currently rates Ten Hag as the second most likely manager to be sacked in the Premier League at 7/2 (bet 2 win 7). Ten Hag's odds of being sacked are only behind Paul Heckingbottom of Sheffield United - the club at the bottom of the table, at 4/5.

Hong Duy

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