Manchester United are preparing for the Premier League game against Sheffield United on Wednesday – but the fallout from their win at Wembley continues.
United are in the FA Cup final, where they will play Manchester City once again, yet their victory over Coventry was definitely a hollow one, having come on penalties after throwing away the 3-0 lead they held until the 71st minute. It has sparked a sizable backlash, mainly aimed at Erik ten Hag – the increasingly beleaguered manager whose days in charge appear numbered.
Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville have all expressed their not-so-positive opinion of Ten Hag. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Avram Glazer were at Wembley to witness yet another United capitulation and are plotting changes in the summer.
In the meantime, Ten Hag still needs to get results in the Premier League, with United languishing in seventh place, level on points with Newcastle but 10 behind Tottenham in fifth. A match against bottom side Sheffield United comes at a good time. Here are the latest headlines from Mirror Football.
Fernandes sticks to the party line
United captain Bruno Fernandes has insisted that he and his team-mates are 100 per cent focused on doing their jobs and aren’t being distracted by speculation about their manager. Ten Hag has been under huge pressure since Ratcliffe’s takeover went through in February and has done little to change the perception of him since.
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But Fernandes is confident United can finish the season strongly. “That doesn't have to affect anyone because we have to focus on everything we have this season because we have still chances to get in European positions in the league, we have to finish as high as possible, that's the main thing,” he said.
“Then we have an FA Cup final to play. So no one has to be worried because it's not our job to be worried with these things that come from the outside or from the inside or whatever. We have the owners who take care of that, we have the directors and then we players it's about performing on the pitch and giving our best.”
Erik ten Hag is under huge pressure (GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)Tuchel sounded out
Fernandes might not be worried, but the signs certainly aren’t good for Ten Hag, with Ratcliffe considering his options. After sounding out Gareth Southgate and Gary O’Neil, the INEOS chief has now spoken to Thomas Tuchel about the possibility of replacing Ten Hag this summer.
Tuchel is poised to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season and is understood to be interested in the role. He is focusing on finishing the campaign strongly with Bayern, who will play Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League soon, but he would be open to returning to the Premier League.
Ratcliffe respects Tuchel’s work, which has seen him win the Champions League and league titles with Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund. It’s not looking good for Ten Hag, who has another year on his United contract.
Thomas Tuchel is of interest to Manchester United (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)Stelling hits out at Onana
Andre Onana saved a penalty from Callum O’Hare in Sunday’s penalty shoot-out, but he didn’t win over many neutrals. The United goalkeeper was booked for time-wasting in the closing stages and received another yellow card in the shoot-out for having some choice words with Ben Sheaf – and Jeff Stelling thinks he should’ve been sent off by then.
"By the way, just one thing that never gets mentioned, gets overlooked, I just want to say Andre Onana shouldn’t have been on the field for the penalty shootout," Stelling said on talkSPORT.
"He’s been given a yellow card after 85 minutes by Rob Jones. And what does he do? He goes behind his goal, picks up his water bottle, takes a drink of water. If Rob Jones had had any bottle, he’d have shown him another yellow card immediately because the goalkeeper was taking the mickey out of the referee."
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