Gary Neville has claimed that Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United future depends on if the club tastes FA Cup glory.
It has been a dismal campaign for the Red Devils, who will almost certainly miss out on Champions League football next term as they languish in seventh with six Premier League games left to play. There is still hope of ending the campaign with some silverware, given United have reached the FA Cup semi-final and will meet Coventry at Wembley on Sunday.
Given Coventry sit a whole league below United, Ten Hag’s side are heavy favourites to progress to the final, where they will meet Manchester City or Chelsea. However, failure to do so could spell disaster for the Red Devils boss, at least according to Neville that is.
“They have to win next weekend. The season would be completely over if they didn’t,” the former Old Trafford ace told Sky Sports podcast. United have precious little left to play for outside of the FA Cup, given they are 13 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
Neville added: “I don’t think there is anything left to say about some of the league performances that we are witnessing and some of the things that we are watching. The tweets, the ‘likes’ and the body language… all that stuff, we have said it so many times before.
“There is no point going over that again. What we can say is that Ten Hag’s future is largely dependent on the FA Cup, because the performance levels in the league have gone. They are like this and they are not going to change now.
“What we’re seeing from United is what we’re going to get for the rest of the season. The players have almost, in some ways, I think, switched off in the league away from home at times. At home they turn it on because they have to, as there are 75,000 people there who won’t allow them to sort of get away from it.”
United do not come into the clash with Coventry in ideal form. The Red Devils have managed just two league victories since early February and as a result, the pressure is mounting on the manager.
Alejandro Garnacho sparked headlines in the aftermath of Sunday’s 2-2 draw away at Bournemouth. The young Argentine was spotted liking tweets that were critical of his manager for substituting the winger at half-time against the Cherries.
