Ten Hag warns Man Utd they could be relegated under Carrick as ‘vicious circle’ takes hold

Former Man Utd head coach Erik ten Hag reckons the Red Devils face the real possibility of being relegated under Michael Carrick this season.

After an encouraging first half against Chelsea, Man Utd collapsed in the second as Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer scored goals for the Blues in between Lisandro Martinez being sent off in a 2-0 defeat for Carrick’s men.

That is now three losses in a row in all competitions and nine matches without a win as pressure continues to pile on to Carrick.

It now seems likely that Man Utd will continue with Carrick until the November international break but ex-Red Devils boss Ten Hag has warned about the potential risk of relegation this term.

When asked if Man Utd being relegated is a real possibility this season, Ten Hag told ESPN: “In the Premier League it’s certainly possible, because all the teams are simply strong. If you end up on the wrong side once and you really get into that vicious circle, yes, then it can become very, very difficult.”

Speaking about his own time at Old Trafford, Ten Hag added: “I think we performed pretty well with United. I think we had performed more than pretty well. We couldn’t have done it better.

“Before we arrived, six years without winning a trophy. Look where they are now. We were at Wembley six times, we played two FA Cup finals. We won 2 trophies, we finished third. And yes, we simply performed pretty well. And at times we also played pretty good football.

“We also had a difficult spell… But the Premier League is so strong and when you hit a difficult spell, yes, then you really have a problem.”

Ten Hag: From Juventus onwards it’s simply over for Cristiano Ronaldo

During his time at Man Utd, Ten Hag has insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo did not work as hard as he should have to help the team.

Ten Hag said: “The challenge is to get the team functioning, really as always. Every player is important in that and you need top players to be able to win. Every top team must embrace the top player, but the top player must work for the team. And that was simply the problem with Ronaldo.”

The Dutchman continued on Ronaldo: “The players wanted to work for him and they looked up to him because let there be no misunderstanding about that. He is of course a tremendous player, one of the greats of all time. But that is also the reality over the last seven, eight years he simply can no longer deliver. From Juventus onwards it’s simply over.

“And that is actually the great gift of Real Madrid — they always know when to say goodbye to players at the right moment. They recognise when a player’s level is declining and they say goodbye at a moment when to the outside world, they still appear to be at their peak. But they can no longer actually deliver.

“I naturally gave him a special status. I also went to him, I spoke to him prior to that job, I explained to him how we were going to play, what his role in that would be, what I expected of him, and what he could expect from me and from the team. But ultimately you also have to deliver yourself and he was no longer capable of pushing himself to the limit.

“As I just said, he could no longer bring himself to push through the pain, to give everything every single day and to train at his maximum in order to get fit. And if you’re not fit in the Premier League, Champions League, or with the Portuguese national team, well, then you simply have no chance.”