Michael Owen calls for Man Utd to sack Erik ten Hag before FA Cup final

Manchester United’s disastrous season plumbed new depths on Monday night with a 4-0 evisceration at Crystal Palace as pundits lined up to question Erik ten Hag’s future.

The humiliation piled more pressure on Ten Hag with United in eighth and in danger of missing out on European football altogether next season.

Ten Hag has come under intense scrutiny following a turbulent second season in charge and former United striker Michael Owen said the Dutchman should be sacked.

“I’ve said it for a long time that Ten Hag is not the right man for this job, I’ve been saying it for ages and ages,” Owen told Premier League Productions after United’s defeat to Palace.

“He cannot, simply cannot, manage the team next season.

“I almost wonder now, they’ve got a cup final and they’ve got a few important games that could mean European football next year or not.

“At some point you’ve got to make a decision, they’re going to get absolutely hammered by Manchester City [in the FA Cup final], they’re going to get annihilated, in fact, Arsenal will smash them to bits at Old Trafford, Newcastle will probably beat them and I wouldn’t even fancy them going to Brighton either. They might not get anything out of the rest of the season, playing like that.

“I just wonder there’s just so much at stake, even if it’s only for four games, I wonder whether the board might just have to try to do something here and now and be quite radical about it.

“He cannot, simply cannot, manage this team next season. He’s not good enough. I’ve thought it for ages, and he’s just not good enough to manage Manchester United.”

United legend Paul Scholes, who won 11 titles at the club, said the 4-0 defeat should spell the end for Ten Hag.

“It’s been a difficult one, I know Michael’s saying he’s felt it for a long time and the signs have been there that it’s going to be difficult for him to do it next year,” said Scholes.

“But tonight felt like the final nail in the coffin, really.

“There was a lack of know-how from the team, a lack of effort which is the big disappointing thing.”

Casemiro endured a nightmare at Selhurst Park and Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports, said the midfielder was finished at the elite level.

“This has got nothing to do with playing out of position, that could be in a holding midfield role. That is embarrassing. They need to bring him off, he has to come off the pitch,” he said.

“He needs to call it a day at this level of football and move.”

Man Utd’s embarrassment at Selhurst Park - what they said

Carragher on Man Utd’s support:

“Most teams’ away support is fantastic, but Manchester United’s are absolutely fantastic because their players don’t deserve that.”

Carragher on the result:

“No Manchester United team should be losing 4-0 to Crystal Palace. I get the injury issues, but Manchester United’s Under-23s will have been coached, come through the academy and taught how to play.

“I think if Manchester United’s Under-23s played against Crystal Palace tonight, they still wouldn’t have lost 4-0 tonight.”

Carragher on Casemiro:

“I know he’s got kids on the bench but I think Casemiro, deadly serious, should know himself tonight as an experienced player that he should only have another three games left at the top level. The next two league games and the [FA] cup final.

“And he should be thinking “I need to go to the MLS or Saudi”. I’m deadly serious. He’s aging, the people around him they need to tell him this has to stop.

“We are watching one of the greats of the modern time playing in one of the best midfields we’ve seen who dominated Europe.

“But I always remember something when I retired myself, there was a saying I always  remember as a footballer, “leave the football before the football leaves you.”

Ashley Young on Palace’s first goal:

“You look at the first goal, it’s crazy the way they’re set up. Palace have got a throw-in in their own half.

“It’s just one run from Olise. He sees the space and just runs into it. It’s shambolic, Casemiro I don’t know what he’s thinking, Olise sees he’s going to make a challenge, he just walks past him, it’s so easy.”

Christian Eriksen after full-time:

“A big disappointment. We just had an off-day and we weren’t in it.

“It is what it is. We can’t really change the injury things. We have to do what we can on the pitch to change it. Today it didn’t matter who we played. Everyone could have done better.

“I don’t know what the conclusion is for how it went. We weren’t good enough.

“We tried to do what we could but we were not good enough. We’ll take the blame as players.”