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• Neville: Lack of identity to blame for Ten Hag's Man Utd sacking

  Gary Neville believes Erik ten Hag's lack of a consistent playing style or identity was his biggest failure at Manchester United and expects another painful rebuild at Old Trafford.

  Ten Hag was sacked after just over two years at the helm on Monday, in the wake of Sunday's demoralising 2-1 defeat at West Ham.

  That loss left United 14th in the Premier League table with just 11 points from nine matches. Only under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019-20 (10) have they had fewer at this stage of a campaign.

  Former United right-back Neville, who defended Ten Hag when his position was questioned following an eighth-place finish last term, now concedes the Dutchman failed to oversee any significant progress in terms of results or style.

  Asked whether Ten Hag should have departed in pre-season, when he instead penned a new contract, Neville told Sky Sports: "Those that felt it should have happened will feel they've been proven right.

  "However, there were hundreds of thousands, even millions, of fans who wanted to continue with Ten Hag, to give him a chance to succeed under a new structure.

  "The shock for me has been how bad they've been with the new signings coming in, with Ten Hag having some stability. To be 14th is unacceptable with that level of spend.

   

  "I think the lack of identity or style has been a real mystery for the last two and a half seasons.

  "Even though the recruitment has been awful at times, I do believe there's a group of players there that can play a lot better than they are, if you put an identity into them.

  "Yesterday I was shocked to see Casemiro and Christian Eriksen in midfield with [Manuel] Ugarte on the bench. If I was an owner, I'd be asking questions around that.

  "It's a real struggle watching United play and that hasn't changed in 18 months, that's been as big a problem as the results."

  United struggled for control throughout Ten Hag's reign, with their 136 expected goals against (xGA) since the start of 2022-23 the fifth-worst figure of all ever-present Premier League clubs.

  They have also underperformed their underlying attacking figures by a greater margin than any other top-flight team this term, scoring eight times from 14.56 xG.

  United also faced 1,739 shots in their 128 games under Ten Hag. Since 2022-23, Manchester City have faced 717 fewer shots than the Red Devils despite playing six more games in that time.

   

  Former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was appointed as an assistant to Ten Hag in July, will now take charge on an interim basis.

  Neville, however, does not expect much to change in the short term and feels no player should be guaranteed a place when the club appoints a permanent successor.

  "He could set the team up differently, but he's been on the bench with Ten Hag so I'd be amazed if something drastic happened," Neville said of his former team-mate. 

  "A lot of work needs to be done with those players. Erik ten Hag couldn't get performances out of them and a lot of those players are his players.

  "They're not good enough but they are better than 14th, they're probably better than sixth. The new manager that comes in should probably be made to work with these players for seven or eight months to work them out, to figure out who they want to keep close."

• Dortmund likely to miss Ryerson for Wolfsburg trip

  Borussia Dortmund will likely be without full-back Julian Ryerson for their DFB-Pokal trip to Wolfsburg, but Nuri Sahin could welcome back Marcel Sabitzer and Waldemar Anton.

  All three players were injured during Saturday's 2-1 loss at Augsburg in the Bundesliga, as Dortmund succumbed to a second defeat in four days after squandering a 2-0 lead to lose 5-2 at Real Madrid in the Champions League.

  Speaking at Monday's pre-match press conference, coach Sahin told reporters: "I don't have high hopes for Julian Ryerson.

  "With Sabi and Waldi, every hour counts. It will only become clear towards kick-off whether they can play."

  Sahin is keen to see Dortmund tighten up at the back after losing three of their last five league matches, slipping seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich.

  "The goals we're conceding for the effort we're putting in are extreme. That can't happen to us. We're conceding goals too easily by making mistakes," said the former midfielder.

  "At the moment, we have so many issues of our own that it doesn't feel so easy."

  Dortmund have lost four consecutive matches on their travels in all competitions since their last DFB-Pokal outing, a 4-1 victory at Phonix Lubeck.

  They have gone unbeaten through their last three games against Wolfsburg, however, outscoring them 8-1 since suffering a 2-0 defeat at Volkswagen Arena in November 2022.

• Faltering in attack, open at the back – Erik ten Hag gets the sack

  Sunday's Premier League loss at West Ham proved one defeat too many for embattled Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, who was sacked on Monday.

  The Red Devils are now seeking their sixth permanent boss since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, with David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag all failing to return the glory days to Old Trafford.

  Ten Hag led United to the EFL Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup earlier this year, making him their second-most successful boss of the post-Ferguson era after Mourinho, who won the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield.

  However, a dismal eighth-placed Premier League finish in 2023-24 has been followed by a dreadful start to 2024-25, prompting the INEOS regime to take action.

  Here, we delve into the Opta data to pinpoint where it went wrong for Ten Hag at United.

  No defence for United rearguard

  When Ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford in 2022, having led an exuberant Ajax side to a Champions League semi-final and three Eredivisie crowns, hopes were high that he would bring a modern, possession-based style to a United side characterised by chaos for so long.

  However, that dream failed to materialise. Throughout Ten Hag's time in the dugout, United were consistently among the Premier League's worst defensive outfits.

  Since his first Premier League match in charge in August 2022, United have registered a total xG against (xGA) figure of 136.

   

  While they only conceded 112 goals under him, their xGA was the fifth-worst of any ever-present Premier League side in that time, better than only Everton, Fulham, West Ham and Wolves. 

  Meanwhile, United faced 1,253 shots in the Premier League under Ten Hag – only four teams (Brentford, Wolves, Bournemouth and West Ham) have faced more shots in the competition since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

  The £70million arrival of midfield enforcer Casemiro failed to solve United's defensive issues, and a failure to control games was a key theme of Ten Hag's tenure. Only Brighton (17) and Everton (16) conceded more Premier League goals from fast breaks than United (13) during the Dutchman's reign, and only three teams gave up more shots from such scenarios (61).

  Attackers go missing

  In the early weeks of 2024-25, however, a failure to take their chances at the other end has primarily cost United. 

  Only Crystal Palace and Southampton (six each) have scored fewer Premier League goals than United (eight) this season. They have the biggest negative differential between expected goals and goals scored in the competition this term (-6.56 – eight goals, 14.56 xG).

   

  They were guilty of spurning several clear-cut chances at the London Stadium last time out, and seven of Ten Hag's 27 Premier League defeats came via a 90th-minute winner, the highest percentage of defeats to last-minute goals of any manager to lose 20 or more games in Premier League history.

  With 42 goals, Marcus Rashford was United's leading scorer in all competitions under Ten Hag.

  Thirty of his strikes came in Ten Hag's debut campaign, though, and he has only netted once in nine league outings this term.

  Bruno Fernandes, who Ten Hag installed as captain, has created the most chances for United since the start of 2022-23 with 364. Christian Eriksen (131), Diogo Dalot (116) and Rashford (115) were the other three players to set up at least 100 chances for team-mates under the former Ajax boss.

  However, Fernandes – who scored 29 goals under Ten Hag and laid on 31 assists – has struggled for form this campaign, with his 2.48 xG the highest figure of any player yet to net in the Premier League.

  The highs and lows

  Ten Hag's tenure brought a few obvious highs, with the 2023 EFL Cup final win over Newcastle United ending a near-six-year trophy drought and May's FA Cup showpiece victory over Manchester City denying United's neighbours a domestic double.

  That was one of two victories over City under Ten Hag, though they lost more games to Pep Guardiola's men (four) than any other team during his reign.

  Most damagingly, Ten Hag's United were blown away in several big games, shipping 17 goals versus City and 16 against Liverpool. Of course, they were trounced 7-0 by the Reds at Anfield in March 2023 – the joint-heaviest competitive defeat in the Red Devils' history.

   

  Ten Hag's reign ends after 128 games, with his 70 victories giving him the second-best win ratio (54.7%) of any United boss post-Ferguson in all competitions, after Mourinho (58.7%).

  His record of 1.72 points per Premier League game, though, only bettered the figures managed by Moyes (1.68) and Ralf Rangnick (1.72) in that span.

  Only Rangnick (0), meanwhile, has overseen a worse goal difference in the Premier League than Ten Hag (+11), among United bosses to manage at least five games.

  And only Moyes (32.4%, 11/34) lost a higher percentage of his Premier League games as United boss than Ten Hag (31.8%, 27/85).

  In the overall Premier League standings since Ten Hag took charge, they sit fifth with 146 points, some 57 adrift of first-placed Man City and also fewer than Arsenal (191), Liverpool (171) and Aston Villa (147).