Gary Neville fears Manchester United’s upcoming double header against Liverpool at Old Trafford will decide Erik tenHag’s future.
The Dutchman is battling to remain in his job and impress United’s new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
A number of changes and hires behind the scenes have already been implemented at Old Trafford, but the future of the current manager remains uncertain.
After last week’s defeat against Manchester City, United now face an uphill task to qualify for the Champions League, but Neville was more concerned with the style of football Ten Hag implemented than the eventual result.
He told The Overlap: ‘I’m absolutely bemused and bewildered as to how we can’t play football under Ten Hag. I can’t believe it because obviously we’ve seen the football he’s played at his previous club.
He actually resorted last week at City to what Ole did at Tottenham when he just sat back and played 3-5-2. He just went right I’m just going to get a result by any means. Howe have we damaged Ten Hag? Why can’t he get a tune?’
United face their fiercest rivals twice between now and the end of the season with an FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford on the hoirzon and Neville believes the outcome of those matches will seal Ten Hag’s fate one way or another.
He added: ‘I think for me for Ten Hag when you say what is critical, we’ve got Liverpool at home twice in the space of three weeks. I think those games can either be your friend or your massive enemy.
‘Losing away at Liverpool is bad when you’ve only got a few thousand United fans in the corner. If you’re at home in front of 73,000 United fans against Liverpool twice.
‘If Liverpool come and do us in the cup with 7,000 fans because you get a bigger allocation I do think those games are defining.
‘The season will be over. If we beat Liverpool in the cup it will be electric, it will be amazing and if we do alright in the league…I’m not saying we will, they are big games but it could give us impetus.
‘If we lose twice you can imagine what the atmosphere will be like. The season’s over with a month to go and I think it could be dead and it will be bad in terms of perception and feeling.’
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