About twenty minutes were needed last night for Erik Ten Hag to reach the new heights of embarrassment at Old Trafford. United have never lost a game on Boxing Day at home, and it hasn’t happened this year due to moments of inspiration from Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund and the déjà vu of 2009.On that April day 14 years ago, the Devils were losing to Villa in their stadium. The title was slipping from their hands, and then an 18-year-old anonymous Italian entered the scene and scored the winning goal in the 90th minute. The English media call Hojlund’s move last night a “Macheda moment”, saving Ten Hag at this moment, but they also inform that despite this, the Dutchman has no reason to be relaxed.Cityzens are stumbling in the Premier League – time for a triumphant run to start at Goodison?Not even 72 hours have passed since Jim Ratcliffe announced the purchase of 25 percent of ownership, and it is already clear that from the January transfer window he will call the shots about everything in the sports sector, including the position of coach and any subsequent transfer of players. It is true that in the next six to eight weeks the INEOS company will undergo various tests of the Premier League and only then officially become the co-owner, but the essential transfer of authority to Ratcliffe’s company has already begun. According to unofficial information, the 71-year-old businessman would like to replace Ten Hag with another strategist and is practically just waiting for the first next setback of the former Ajax coach, in order to implement one of the first major changes in the sports sector.##NAJAVA_MECA_7765204##Even when his team was eliminated from the Champions League, the Dutchman did not accept the statements that he was doing a bad job, and now he waited for a big positive moment to smile ear-to-ear.”I told the players at halftime that we are a team with a winning mentality. That we are competitive with the best teams in the league. The fact that we overturned a 2-0 halftime deficit shows our character.”Manchester United has secured a win in 14 Premier League matches despite trailing by at least two goals, a feat surpassing any other team in the history of the competition by a margin of at least five such wins.Comeback Kings 👑 pic.twitter.com/4jzBb0MFv8— Football Talk (@FootballTalkHQ) December 27, 2023 One of the important aspects of Hojlund’s first Premier League goal in his career is the fact that at Old Trafford they partially slowed down in their search for a new striker and thus potentially saved a lot of money from the $300,000,000 that Ratcliffe plans to invest, but he would rather do it than the summer transitional period. According to all previous knowledge, it is clear that this is a businessman who will not spend too much money in a short time, but that the systemic recovery of the club’s sports sector is the primary task in the coming years. How much he believes in the rational disposal of funds is confirmed by the announcements that the number of 1000 employees in the club will be reduced to 650 to 700, and this information does not go well with Ten Hag, since it is clear that Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford (Jim’s right-hand man) they will not hesitate too much to replace the coach, if we take into account that he will “cold-bloodedly” leave about 30 percent of all employees in the club without a job.🔴 Manchester United must consult INEOS on every player transfer whilst their investment is being approved by Premier League authorities.The same applies to the futures of Erik ten Hag and John Murtough: INEOS must be consulted ahead of any decision. pic.twitter.com/KDFJkHEThZ— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 27, 2023 It seems that for the next two weeks at least, Ten Hag’s schedule is going well. On the penultimate day of the year, the Red Devils visit Nottingham Forest (who, admittedly, triumphed at St. James’ Park against Newcastle yesterday), and then on January 8th they will play the FA Cup against Wigan. The first real test since the arrival of the new ownership structure will practically be on January 14, when Tottenham arrive at Old Trafford. Potential names for Ten Hag’s replacement are being bid on, with Graham Potter the most frequently mentioned free agent name, although sources close to Ratcliffe report that it would be United’s move along the line of least resistance and that United would want an even bigger name than the former Ostersund, Brighton and Chelsea tactician.
