Erik ten Hag had a strong start to life at Manchester United but now finds himself in a similar boat to many before him in the Old Trafford dugout.
Ten Hag achieved a third-place finish with United last season and seemed to be getting the club back on track.
This season has been a major disappointment though and the United boss now seems to be clinging onto his job.
A year ago, United fans were looking forward to a return to the Champions League.
Now, we’re watching a United side scrape into the FA Cup final after almost throwing away a 3-0 lead against a Championship club.
Ten Hag is far from the first United manager in recent times to have a strong start and then encounter problems.
Jose Mourinho won the EFL Cup and Europa League in his first season at United before finishing second in the 2017-18 campaign.
Yet come December 2018, Mourinho had been axed as results vanished and United decided to call time on his United career.
Jose Mourinho slams unnamed Manchester United players
Mourinho didn’t exactly prove United wrong in his next job at Tottenham Hotspur but did win a Europa Conference League with Roma.
Now out of work once again, Mourinho will be looking for a new job this summer and has now spoken to The Telegraph about his career.
Mourinho unsurprisingly spoke about United and offered stinging criticism for some players still at Old Trafford now.
Mourinho claims that he didn’t have the level of background support as Ten Hag does right now and believes the professional relationship with Ed Woodward could have been better.
The former United boss feels that the club’s fortunes ‘could be different’ had they trusted him a little more during his time in charge.
Mourinho claims that there are some players in the United squad right now that he didn’t want at the club – but refused to name them.
Mourinho feels those players lack the ‘professional profile’ United need but seemingly felt that the club didn’t agree, choosing to keep them instead of getting rid as Mourinho wanted.
“My relationship with [former chief executive] Ed Woodward was good,” said Mourinho. “Good as in the personal point of view. Even now we send an SMS. But from a professional point of view it was not the best. I am who I am. I am a football man. Ed comes from a different background and what Ten Hag has in his time at Manchester United I didn’t have. I didn’t have that level of support. I didn’t have that level of trust.”
“So I left sad, because I felt I was in the beginning of the process. In some moments, I felt if they trusted me and believed in my experience things could be different. There are still a couple of players still there I didn’t want five or six years ago. I think they represent a little bit what I consider not the best professional profile to a club of a certain dimension. But I did my job there. Time always tells the truth. I would love Manchester United to succeed,” he added.
Who is Mourinho talking about?
If we look back at the squad Mourinho started the 2018-19 season with – which fits into the ‘five or six years ago’ he was speaking about – then there are only six players still at Old Trafford.
Scott McTominay is one of them but Mourinho brought him into the first-team picture and always seemed to be a big fan of the Scot.
Diogo Dalot and Victor Lindelof are also still at United, but they were Mourinho signings.
Lindelof arrived in 2017 whilst Dalot joined in 2018, so we don’t think they are included in Mourinho’s criticism.
That leaves Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
That may make sense; Mourinho previously suggested that Shaw ‘didn’t know how to compete’ at United and accused Rashford and Martial of lacking ‘character’.
Shaw has undoubtedly taken his game to another level since Mourinho’s exit but injuries continue to be the key thing holding him back.
Rashford has become a somewhat divisive figure in terms of his performances, failing to really kick on in recent times despite the quality we know he possesses.
Martial blew hot and cold under Mourinho and has become a source of real frustration in recent years having barely made an impact.
The Frenchman will be leaving at the end of his contract this summer, bringing his nine-year stay at the club to an end.
It’s a long time since Mourinho left United and any player he didn’t really fancy back then may have developed as people and players.
Only Mourinho will know exactly who he is talking about but there is a limited pool of players to guess from, leaving United fans to try and put two and two together.