Erik ten Hag argued with Anthony Martial during Manchester United’s defeat against Newcastle, and the manager is now dealing with a disgruntled dressing room.
At Manchester United, Erik ten Hag is facing a dressing-room insurrection with some members of his squad thought to be disillusioned.
United have lost 10 of their 21 games this season, with Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle perhaps their poorest performance.
During the defeat, Anthony Martial fought with Ten Hag about his poor work rate, while fellow attacker Marcus Rashford was heavily chastised for his lack of drive.
According to United sources, some players are dissatisfied with their current situation, and Ten Hag is now facing a significant battle to retain the majority of his squad on board.
Ten Hag confronts a critical sequence of games in the coming weeks, beginning with Chelsea at home tomorrow and continuing with a must-win Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford on Tuesday, followed by a trip to archrivals Liverpool on December 17.
There is concern that discontent among certain areas of the dressing room will spread if results do not improve, despite United currently being in seventh place in the Premier League.
World Cup champion Raphael Varane has been sacked, while winger Jadon Sancho has been exiled after publicly challenging Ten Hag on social media.
Sancho has been training alone for the past three months, after challenging Ten Hag’s reasoning for leaving him out of the group that lost 3-1 at Arsenal on September 3.
Despite being sent to train at the Academy, Sancho is believed to have maintained his fitness and is “training like a beast” according to one source, with plenty of his team-mates eager to see him reintegrated back into Ten Hag’s group.
Ten Hag has demanded that Sancho may rejoin the squad only after apologizing, which the England star has refused to do, claiming he was entitled to defend himself following his manager’s words.
However, with Rashford, Martial, and Antony all struggling for form, several United players believe Ten Hag’s uncompromising stance is misguided and is harming the squad.
