Ten Hag not right manager for Man United – Michael Owen

England football legend Michael Owen doesn’t fancy Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag to bring back the glory days at Old Trafford.

The Dutchman saved his job after beating their bitter rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season.

Ten Hag has since signed a one-year contract extension that will keep him in the Red Devil’s hot seat until 2026 despite a disappointing season that saw them finish in eighth position on the league table in the previous campaign.

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The former England international was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2010-11 team that clinched the league crown. He still has reservations about Ten Hag’s ability to turn United into a force again. 

“I’ve not been impressed with the last couple of seasons since he’s (Ten Hag) been in charge there. Their league form has been poor and they came eighth in the league last season. Some would say they were lucky to come eighth when you look at all the stats,” Owen told Thabiso Mosia on Radio2000.

“They make for bad reading and they conceded more chances and more shots than virtually every team in the league bar Sheffield United who went down and they finished eighth.  Their performances in Europe were atrocious really and they got lucky with a couple of easy looking draws in the last couple of years and still didn’t manage to get out.

“They have won two trophies and I don’t know how but they have. Obviously, most people want to see Manchester United competing at the top level but I’m not sure they have the right manager in place. They are sorting things out behind the scenes which is a positive but I’m just not sure this is the right manager to get Manchester United back on top.” 

The former Ballon d’Or winner is backing Arsenal to stop Manchester City from picking up a record-extending fifth successive premier league championship. 

“They (Arsenal) are my pick for the season and of course Manchester City are a strong team and they had a very good result against Chelsea in the opening game of the season,” he concluded.

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“But I just think Arsenal have got so much determination this season and I think they can go one better.  They’ve been brilliant over the last couple of seasons and I think they can do it this year so I will side with Arsenal.”