A man dubbed the Premier League’s worst-ever manager has ripped into beleaguered Manchester United and Erik ten Hag.
The Red Devils are in the midst of another crisis following a torrid start to the season under Ten Hag, who is once again under mounting pressure. Following Sunday’s wretched 3-0 defeat to Tottenham, United are floundering in 13th in the Premier League.
United’s next two matches before the international break – away to Porto in the Europa League and against a buoyant Aston Villa – are seen as crucial to his hopes of clinging onto the job he only just retained in the summer after salvaging the FA Cup with a shock win over Manchester City.
Now, Frank de Boer, who was sacked after just four games in charge of Crystal Palace in 2017, has slammed his countryman’s side. De Boer lost every Palace game he managed and was subsequently dubbed the English top-flight’s ‘worst’ manager by former United boss Jose Mourinho.
While analysing the Spurs defeat for Viaplay TV, De Boer, who had a brief spell at Rangers in 2004, said: “Having watched them and having now analysed Manchester United, I can only say that they are in a bad state. United look like a team that are wobbling everywhere.
“They have been totally outclassed [by Tottenham] and I am talking about being outclassed tactically, in quality, in effort and energy. Where weren’t they outclassed? I was looking at the players and one after the other they made such stupid mistakes.”
The former Netherlands international added: “So many players are making poor passes. I was trying to count the amount of big things that went wrong in the first 45 minutes and it was impossible to count those big mistakes on the fingers of two hands.
“I am stunned by what I saw in Manchester. It became even more clear how bad United are when I looked at the way Tottenham played from the back, how they built things up, always finding a free player, showing guts on the ball and having the right power in a fight for the ball. I found it remarkable how an opponent of United’s could play like that.”
Summer signing Joshua Zirkzee also came in for criticism. De Boer blasted: “Look at Joshua Zirkzee. He was having a nightmare. He was absolutely shocking.
“How many times does he make the wrong choices on the pitch? Okay, he did have one shot at goal, and the keeper saved it. But all in all, he was champion in losing the ball. During the warm-up before the game, I was watching him, and he was shooting on goal but he was blasting it anywhere but on target.
“Honestly, he did not hit the target once in the warm-up. That was terrible. When you are a good striker, you don’t have to blast every ball, you have to make sure your shots are in the corner. During the game, Marcus Rashford tried to shoot like that. Zirkzee never did.”
It was De Boer’s comments about Rashford in 2018 that led to the withering putdown from Mourinho. After De Boer remarked that it was a “pity” Mourinho was managing a young Rashford, the former Real Madrid boss hit back, saying: “I read something, some quote from the worst manager in the history of the Premier League, Frank de Boer. If Marcus was coached by Frank, he would lose because Frank lost every game.”