Erik ten Hag has ‘lost the plot’ in ‘CAR CRASH’ head coach position at Man United, claims Chris Sutton on It’s All Kicking Off… and says why potential replacement needs to beware Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Chris Sutton has claimed Erik ten Hag has ‘lost the plot’ as his second season at Manchester United has unraveled on Mail Sport’s It’s All Kicking Off podcast.

The chances that the embattled manager will end up in the Old Trafford dugout next season are becoming increasingly slim after his side suffered another humiliating defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday evening.

While the club is not believed to be considering replacing the head coach before the FA Cup final against Manchester City at the end of the season, a number of alternative candidates are believed to be considered for the role, including former Chelsea forward Thomas Tuchel. coach Graham Potter.

But both Sutton and his co-presenter – and Mail Sport Football Editor – Ian Ladyman stressed that change at the beleaguered club next season may not just come with a move to a new manager.

The expert went so far as to say that the role itself was difficult for most highly qualified managers to fill, citing the turbulent years that followed the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s highly decorated government.

But Sutton and Ladyman first discussed Man United’s immediate task: an attempt to stop Arsenal’s title bid at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

The former Blackburn Rovers and Celtic man predicted that Arsenal would ‘win comfortably’ against a ‘hugely depleted’ Ten Hag side, adding that it was difficult to imagine how things in Manchester could get much more depressing.

“The form is so bad,” said Sutton. ‘And if you’re outplayed – Crystal Palace was actually a showboat in the first half, Eze and Elise. If it gets like this, can it get any worse?

‘Fair play to the supporters for sticking with them. But damn, how long can they hang on to players who play at such a low level?’

In the aftermath of the loss at Selhurst Park, a number of ex-United voices, including Paul Scholes, called for Ten Hag’s assistant Steve McClaren to take over for the rest of the season.

But as Ladyman argued: ‘IIf he’s such a good coach, why hasn’t he had any influence on this mess of a United team in the last eight or nine months?

‘I was thinking about something about Ten Hag this week and what surprises me about Ten Hag is not that that he is having a hard time because he is not the first manager to have a hard time at that football club,” Ladyman continued.

‘But I’m surprised he doesn’t come across as a coach this season. And when he came from Ajax, that was his reputation. His reputation was that of a smart, smart, modern coach. But there’s absolutely no sign of that this season.

“For example, and I never want to use Jose Mourinho as an example, but I’m going to because Mourinho as a modern coach is largely a blunder in terms of the modern game.

‘And he certainly wasn’t as effective as he likes to pretend he was when he was at United. But if someone like Mourinho were in charge of this team on Sunday, you can imagine he would have a plan, and you know what that plan would be.

‘They would take to that pitch at Old Trafford on Sunday and line up in such a way that it would make it almost impossible for Arsenal to take United down and try to score a 0-0, and you never know, they might even ‘get a 1- 0 on the counter. You would see Mourinho do that because that is what great coaches do.

‘I just don’t see Ten Hag doing that. He never seems to send the team out with a clear pattern of how to play and that’s what baffles me, which is why I’m not really giving them a chance on Sunday.

“Because I just go out and do what they normally do, which is a mish-mash of everything that essentially accomplishes nothing.”

Sutton agreed, adding that it was impossible to gauge whether United had made positive changes since the Dutchman’s first season.

“I went to Ten Hag quite early and I think you didn’t agree with it and I understood why you didn’t agree with it,” Sutton said. ‘But it was about making progress.

“And they had a good season last season in terms of progression. More relevantly, it was about controlling games, because I didn’t see them having any control over games.

‘That has been a problem all season. It doesn’t get better. And that’s why you could say things have gotten worse. That is why Erik ten Hag will go. But I think the point you make about him and his coaching is very valid at this point. It seems he has lost the plot.

‘You see a lot of comments saying they are one of the most dynamic and entertaining teams in the Premier League. I just think he is losing it and needs to be put out of his misery as soon as possible. But it will happen at the end of the season.”

However, Ladyman did not have the most optimistic view of the future at Carrington – especially in light of the rise of outgoing Bayern Munich head coach Tuchel’s candidacy.

‘Listening and reading some stories about Jim Ratcliffe at Manchester United this week, and emails to staff about the state of the changing rooms, emails to staff about ending the work-from-home culture that has developed at Manchester United as a football club ,” Ladyman began.

“(He) already strikes me as a micromanager, strikes me as a middleman and you wonder if, I know it’s early to say this, you wonder how that would turn out with a certain type of coach.

‘Someone like (Thomas) Tuchel, for example, is someone who was essentially thrown out of Chelsea because he couldn’t come to terms with the new American owners there. If Radcliffe is going to manage that club in such a hands-on, overbearing way, it takes a certain type of manager to work in that environment.”

Although Sutton argued that his co-presenter may have been a little premature in his assessment of the INEOS billionaire, he did reflect on the objectives of the takeover based on their successful leadership of the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team.

“What they’re trying to do, (why) Dave Brailsford goes in, is small margins, small profits and trying to find them,” he added.

‘I think we all feel that next season it won’t be about small wins for Manchester United. It’s about making big steps. And I don’t know if that’s possible.

‘I think what we have learned since Sir Alex Ferguson resigned is that United have gone backwards. We can look at Ten Hag, but you can also go back to all the managers who have been in charge. You mentioned Mourinho and (Louis) Van Gaal and they couldn’t find a way.

“It’s a car crash of a job you have to hand over. But it is a big club. They have to find their way back. And I think it will be a slow process, an arduous process. And again, you know, the word patience is going to be necessary.”