Erik ten Hag sacked LIVE: Ruben Amorim ‘in talks’ as Manchester United line up next manager

Manchester United have lost nine Premier League games to 90th-minute goals in their entire history. Seven of those were during Erik ten Hag’s 85 games in charge.

Ruben Amorim is reluctant to leave Sporting mid-season, amid interest from Manchester United after the club sacked Erik ten Hag. The Portuguese is one of the names being considered as the beleaguered Old Trafford club attempt to decide what next after yet another defeat.

The 39-year-old has become one of the most highly-rated coaches in Europe, and is now widely seen as Pep Guardiola’s likeliest successor at Manchester City, having previously lauded the Spaniard as “a reference for all managers”.

“It was the right decision,” Shearer says on The Rest is Football podcast.

“They’re 14th and haven’t won in Europe for a year. They’re a million miles off where they want to be or should be. It’s not acceptable, whether you think it’s harsh? We all know the rules of football, if you don’t get results, you’ll lose your job.

“They should have been five or six up at West Ham. Then that awful decision costs them the game.”

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker also gave his thoughts on his podcast saying that Erik ten Hag’s departure had been an ‘ongoing saga’.

Lineker said: “It’s been an ongoing saga, which sort of started in the summer just before the FA Cup (final) when we got wind of the fact United were sounding out other coaches.

“They seemed to go for Thomas Tuchel but he didn’t take the job, then they subsequently went back to Ten Hag. I suppose there was a degree of eventuality about this.

“It’s not like he’s not been backed. That’s a hell of a lot of money and it hasn’t worked at all. His argument will be ‘I’ve won trophies’ and he has, he’s won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup, but I think you’ve got to judge managers on their league position.”

Lineker also added that the club had been ‘a bit of a shambles’ since Sir Jim Ratcliffe took over the football side of things solloing his minority owner investment.

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said on The Rest is Football podcast that Erik ten Hag‘s tenure as Manchester United boss was “like an accident waiting to happen”.

He told Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker: “Man United, we keep saying, are a massive club, it comes with huge pressure. We all know that.

“But for them not to have an identity in two-and-a-half years is not good enough. To be 14th in the league is not good enough.

“I don’t see much improvement. It was just like an accident waiting to happen at times and in the end it was probably the right decision.”

Alan Shearer told The Rest is Football podcast, that Erik ten Hag was a ‘dead man walking’ when reports emerged that Manchester United were looking for a new manager last summer.

He said: “We were just waiting for it to happen. Even the way he was talking that ‘we’re all on the same page’.

“Well, they weren’t really on the same page because everyone knew they were talking to managers in the summer.

“If they’re on the same page why on earth are they speaking to managers in the summer? As soon as that came out we all said he was a dead man walking, unfortunately.

“For them then to give him a new contract after that was bizarre really and to back him with £200m, and in nearly four months they’ve sacked him. Bizarre.”

Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorin has responded to the rumours linking him with the Manchester United position. He said:

“I was already expecting this question and obviously, I’m not going to talk about the future, because otherwise, I’ll always have to comment.

“I’m very proud to be Sporting coach, that’s all.”

It seems as though Manchester United’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday was the decisive factor in the board taking action against the manager.

Erik ten Hag revealed after the defeat that United lacked a killer instinct in front of goal which was their undoing.

Ten Hag said: “Football is not always the best team winning. Today it’s very obvious and clear. Today we were far better than the opponent and there are two things: we didn’t score and it was a very poor decision from the referee – on-field and definitely also off-field.

“I think we played very good football, the first hour it was really enjoyable to watch our team – so dynamic, so much variation, so creative, so many chances.

“That is the only thing we miss – killing in front of the goal. Sometimes you are in this pattern and you have to break the pattern but it will come because our players are clinical and they can be relentless in front of the goal, so it will come.”

4-0 loss at Brentford (August 2022)

6-3 loss at Manchester City, after United were 4-0 by half-time (October 2022)

Record 7-0 home defeat by Liverpool (March 2023)

4-3 loss at Chelsea despite United leading deep into stoppage time (April 2024)

Since the start of 2022/23, the only Premier League side to concede more goals in all competitions than Manchester United (165) is West Ham (180).

Man United have conceded three or more goals in 24 different games in that time, the joint most along with Bournemouth.