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."
Milan rhythm disrupted by Bologna postponement, says Fonseca
Paulo Fonseca believes Milan's early-season rhythm has been disrupted following the late postponement of their Serie A fixture at Bologna last weekend.
The match, scheduled to take place at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Saturday, was postponed 24 hours before kick-off after heavy rain and flooding in the region.
After failing to win their first three league matches, Milan have since taken 12 points from their next five games, propelling them up the standings after a difficult start.
But with the Rossoneri not in action over the weekend, they dropped to eighth in the Serie A table ahead of facing leaders Napoli on Tuesday.
"It was tricky to manage this moment. On the eve of the game, we trained without knowing whether we’d play or not the following day," Fonseca said.
"We wanted to play, and I think we’ve been affected by not playing in this match."
Napoli come into the game on the back of a 1-0 triumph over Lecce, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo's 73rd minute strike sealing a seventh win of the campaign.
Antonio Conte's side are now unbeaten in their last eight league games, their best run since a run of eight straight wins in February 2023 under Luciano Spalletti.
They have also kept five clean sheets in their last six games, as many as in their previous 34 Serie A matches.
"As the table shows, Napoli are a strong team at a good moment. They are the table leaders and will be motivated to face us," Fonseca said.
"We are also motivated to play this match against a very strong team that has won games comfortably."
Milan, however, have won just one of their last nine meetings against Napoli whent he fixture has been played in the first half of a Serie A campaign (D2 L6).
Despite his side's league position after nine games so far, Fonseca believes Milan can win a 20th Scudetto title under his guidance.
"The fans must believe because we are a strong team and we are improving. We think we can fight for the Scudetto," he said.
Premier League MD9: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The first managerial departure of the 2024-25 Premier League season has come, with Erik ten Hag leaving his role at Manchester United.
United's decision to dismiss Ten Hag came after the Red Devils slumped to a 2-1 defeat at West Ham on Sunday, leaving them 14th in the table.
Elsewhere, Liverpool and Arsenal shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw, Manchester City downed Southampton, Chelsea beat Newcastle United and Brentford came out on top in a seven-goal thriller against Ipswich Town.
Late goals also ruled the roost this past weekend. There were five games to have a final result-altering goal scored in the 90th minute (or later) in the Premier League this weekend, the most across a single matchday in the competition's history.
But what do the underlying metrics tell us?
Unlucky losers: Fulham
Fulham took a point away from Goodison Park on Saturday, but Marco Silva thought his team deserved two more.
And it is fair to say Everton were largely second-best, with Beto's last-gasp equaliser sparring Sean Dyche's team.
Fulham, who took the lead through Alex Iwobi, registered 1.26 expected goals (xG) to Everton's 0.79 and had 14 shots to their hosts' 10. That being said, perhaps Silva's side only have themselves to blame - they converted only 7.14% of their shots and got only three attempts on target.
Lucky winners: Bournemouth
Evanilson's late header secured a 1-1 draw for Bournemouth at Aston Villa, and though the Cherries could point to some potential penalty decisions going against them, it is fair to say the metrics suggest they were fortunate to avoid defeat.
Only Southampton (0.21) mustered a lower xG than Bournemouth's 0.31 across the fixtures in the top flight this past weekend.
Villa, on the other hand, registered 1.81 xG - the fifth-highest total in the division across the games - while Mark Travers was exceptional in the Bournemouth goal.
He made seven saves to keep Villa at bay, bar Ross Barkley's opener. Indeed, Villa's 3.23 expected goals on target (xGoT) was more than any other team in matchweek nine, so Travers finished with a goals-prevented figure of 2.23.
Andoni Iraola's team certainly rode their luck.
Unlucky losers: Man Utd
Ten Hag's time is up, though the Dutchman was fuming about a contentious penalty decision that ultimately settled the match in West Ham's favour.
When discounting the xG from that penalty, West Ham finished with 2.21 xG - just less than United's 2.34.
United had 18 shots and five big chances (the second-most after Brentford across the weekend's matches), but failed to put those opportunities away, apart from Casemiro's close-range header.
The soft defence that plagued Ten Hag's tenure, though, ultimately came back to bite them yet again.
Messi 'best in the world' but Vinicius deserves Ballon d'Or, says Martino
Inter Miami head coach Gerardo Martino believes Lionel Messi is still "the best in the world", despite backing Vinicius Junior to scoop the Ballon d'Or.
Messi claimed the award for a record-extending eighth time last year after leading Argentina to their third World Cup crown in Qatar during the 2022-23 voting period, but he has not been nominated this year.
But that saw the Inter Miami boss question the criteria for the Ballon d'Or this time around, having seen first-hand the 37-year-old's impact in the MLS this season.
Messi led the Herons to a record points haul in the Eastern Conference, while also notching 20 goals and 10 assists in 19 league games.
The Argentine recorded another assist in Miami's 2-1 win over Atlanta United in the first game of their best-of-three series in the playoffs.
He now has a division-high 31 goal involvements so far this term, though five players are only one behind him, including team-mate Luis Suarez.
Messi also broke the record for the most assists in a single MLS game with five assists, while also scoring a brace to clinch the Supporters' Shield, the 46th trophy of his career.
However, Martino acknowledged the impressive season Vinicius had at Real Madrid, with the Brazilian starring in Los Blancos' LaLiga and Champions League successes.
Vinicius scored 24 goals and added 11 assists in all competitions last term, and Martino said he would be a worthy winner of football's most prestigious individual accolade.
"It [the Ballon d'Or] has never been something that caught my attention, nor was it clear to me whether the award is for the best in the world or of the year," Martino said.
"Vinicius Junior probably has the merit [of being the best last season], although if you ask me who is the best right now, it's Messi."
However, reports ahead of the ceremony suggested Madrid cancelled plans to attend after learning Vinicius had not won the award.
It is believed that Manchester City's Rodri has emerged victorious after winning the Premier League title and leading Spain to the European Championship crown.
Should the 28-year-old win the trophy, he would become the first Spaniard to win the award since Barcelona's Luis Suarez back in 1960.
Rodri would also be the first player to win the Ballon d'Or while playing for an English club since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2008, when he was turning out for Manchester United.
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