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‘Cooked’ Manchester United told to consider Jose Mourinho approach after ‘sackable performance’ under Erik ten Hag

Manchester United’s hiding at Crystal Palace has been labeled a ‘sackable performance’ – and perhaps they could turn to an old friend to replace Erik ten Hag.

What’s already been a difficult season for the Red Devils got worse with the Eagles inflicting a 4-0 drubbing on the 13-time Premier League winners.

The 4-0 drubbing will only increase the questions surrounding Ten Hag’s future at Old TraffordCredit: Getty

Goals from Michael Olise and Jean-Philippe Mateta put Oliver Glasner’s men in charge at half time before Tyrick Mitchell and a second from Olise made it an embarrassing night for Man United.

Palace were on it throughout the night, with Olise and Eberechi Eze in fine form, however, an inquest will begin into how it all went so horribly wrong for Ten Hag’s side.

talkSPORT’s Jason Cundy declared at the start of The Sports Bar: “I can’t think of a worse Man United performance I’ve ever seen.”

Cundy added: “United have shot. They’ve gone. Arsenal will be looking at that now and be thinking, ‘we thought that would be a tough game, it’s not.’ Arsenal will destroy them, City in the FA Cup final…”

Sports Bar host Jamie O’Hara asked if Ten Hag should get the sack, to which Cundy replied: “That’s a sackable performance tonight.”

O’Hara responded: “If you’re a manager now, maybe they’re speaking to someone for the summer – I’d take the job! You’ve got nothing to lose in the Premier League, because that’s over. You could win a trophy.”

Cundy said he doubts any potential successor for the Dutchman would come in at such a late stage of the season before O’Hara suggested Man United could bring in former manager Jose Mourinho on a temporary basis ahead of the club’s FA Cup final date with Manchester City on May 25.

O’Hara said: “Give it to Mourinho for a couple of weeks. Why not? A chance to win a trophy… they ain’t winning it with Ten Hag, forget about that. They’re done.”

Mourinho was at Man United for two-and-a-half years, winning the Europa League and League Cup in his first season at the clubCredit: Sky Sports

Cundy added: “They’re cooked, they’re absolutely gone. There’s no fight, no belief.

“Ten Hag’s getting sacked in the summer. That FA Cup semi-final against Coventry was enough to tell me that the players aren’t playing for him. Tonight really does rubber stamp it.”

O’Hara later said: “I think they should get on the phone to Mourinho.”

Safe to say Ten Hag doesn’t subscribe to this view with the former Ajax boss vowing to keep fighting in the face of increasing pressure on him.

It was a limp and lifeless performance from Man United on Monday nightCredit: Getty
Ten Hag couldn’t believe what he was seeing at timesCredit: AFP

When asked if he worries for his future, Ten Hag told talkSPORT: “I don’t think about this.

“I have to prepare the team, we have huge problems so if I worry about my future… it’s not about me, it’s about the team and the club.

“You see the fans are backing us so they deserve a team that has energy.”

Ten Hag told Sky Sports: “I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, I have to take responsibility for that but I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game (against Arsenal).”

He added: “It’s clear, it’s obvious, this is under-performing. We didn’t act how we wanted to and it’s not good enough. We are very disappointed.

“Our fans were behind us and we should have kept fighting like the fans did.

“There are always reasons, everyone sees our back line – we have huge problems. At the end of the day, we have to deal with it and we should have done better.”

Man United is eighth in the Premier League, behind seventh-placed Chelsea on goal difference and two points off sixth-placed Newcastle as well as six points off fifth-placed Tottenham.

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