Ten Hag Says Man Utd Relegation Is ‘Certainly Possible’ After Chelsea Defeat

• Erik ten Hag, sacked by Manchester United in 2024, says relegation for his old club is “certainly possible”, per Mirror.
• United are 17th in the Premier League with seven points from nine games, outside the bottom three on goal difference only.
• Paul Merson expects United to be in the bottom three by the time they play Coventry on 5 December, but does not expect them to go down.

United Were 14th When They Sacked Ten Hag and Are 17th Now

Erik ten Hag left Manchester United in 2024 with the club 14th in the Premier League. The manager they sacked has now been asked on the Dutch show Goedemorgen Eredivisie whether he can see them being relegated, and he did not wave the idea away. In the Premier League, he said, it is “certainly possible”. United sit 17th after nine league games, ahead of the bottom three on goal difference alone, after a Saturday defeat at Chelsea.

What Ten Hag Said About the Drop

His answer covered the whole league. He called every side in the division strong: “They’re all strong squads, all good managers.” The danger, he said, is the first slip. A team that ends up “on the wrong side once” and starts to “really get into that vicious circle” will find life can become “very, very difficult”.

Ten Hag won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup in his two and a bit seasons there.

Why the Table Looks So Bad

United lost 2-0 at Chelsea on Saturday, their third defeat in a row. They collapsed in the second half and finished with 10 men after Lisandro Martinez was sent off. They have gone almost two months without a win in all competitions.

The league numbers are thin. Seven points from nine games leaves United two clear of bottom side Sunderland, who have five. United have won once in the Premier League, the 5-2 win over Ipswich at Old Trafford, and Sunderland and 19th-placed Nottingham Forest have one win each as well. United’s last relegation came in 1974.

Michael Carrick, who got the head coach job permanently in the summer, was asked about the prospect of going down. “We’ve got to keep moving forward and winning games, simple as that,” he said. He added that no words he could offer now would change the table, and that the other way to look at it is how far a team can climb “quite quickly if you win football matches”.

Merson Expects the Bottom Three but Not the Drop

Paul Merson gave his own forecast in a Monday column. In his view United shot themselves in the foot after an alright first half at Chelsea, and the bigger blame sits upstairs. “They got it all wrong upstairs,” he wrote.

His timeline is specific. United play Coventry at home on 5 December, with about a third of the season gone by then. “I’d be shocked if they’re not in the bottom three by then,” Merson said. He stopped short of relegation: “I don’t see them getting relegated, absolutely not. But this is not Manchester United.”

Recruitment is his main complaint. He questioned the £50m spent on Andrey Santos and said the club plans to fix the defence in the next window. On that plan he said “you can’t build a house on a puddle”. He also said Martinez, sent off at Chelsea, would never have played for the club again under Sir Alex Ferguson. Martinez has been outspoken before: in October he aimed criticism at Jason Wilcox after a Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.

The Fixtures That Follow

Ten Hag is not the only former insider with a view on how the club is run. Carrick answered Ten Hag’s board criticism in October by calling it Ten Hag’s opinion.

The next five league games are not kind. Aston Villa visit Old Trafford on Sunday 8 November. United then go to Liverpool on 22 November, host Brentford on 28 November, travel to Newcastle on 2 December and face Coventry at home on 5 December. Merson says United might get a big result and that Villa looked beatable the other day, though he does not expect United to beat them. Seven points from nine games is the number Carrick has to change, and Villa on Sunday is the next league chance to start.

WRITTEN BY

George Howson

George Howson is a Futbol Chronicle contributor and accredited journalist with over 20 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, George has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing deep knowledge and first-hand insight to every match report and analysis he writes.

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