'Ineos undermined Ten Hag and he has been a dead man walking since'

A WEEK ago Erik ten Hag's stock was on the rise at United now there is a rush to sell again as the Dutchman teeters once more at Old Trafford.

- TYRONE MARSHALL

We're not even at the end of September and already Ten Hag has been through the cycles of a United manager this term. Two successive defeats had him staring down the barrel. Two convincing victories in a row had him back on track. Now two successive draws leave him back to square one.

It's worth asking the question: is there any point to this any more?

Every performance, every result, every run of form is being framed around the future of a manager who came as close as possible to being sacked this summer, without actually being sacked.

But while Ten Hag might have survived Ineos' end-of-season review, the slapdash nature of a public search for a replacement before backtracking and keeping faith with the man you had lost faith in fatally undermined him.

He has been a dead man walking ever since and at some point Ineos will almost certainly need to hold their hands up, admit their mistakes and move on.