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The talk around Erik ten Hag’s future will grow at Manchester United “with every sub-standard showing”, according to former Premier League striker Chris Sutton.
The Red Devils were beaten 3-1 by Brighton on Saturday, meaning Ten Hag’s side have now lost the first three of their opening five Premier League fixtures this season.
Goals from Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Joao Pedro saw the Seagulls win at Old Trafford with Hannibal Mejbri getting a consolation for Man Utd.
Ten Hag has had to deal with a number of high-profile incidents over the last few weeks with Jadon Sancho and Antony spending time away from the first team.
Sancho has been made to train away from the first-team squad after refusing to apologise for putting up a social media post hitting back at Ten Hag’s claims that the winger has been poor in training.
While Antony has been given a leave of absence in order to address allegations made against him of violence towards women.
READ MORE: Ten Hag is the ‘worst Man Utd manager since Ferguson’ and the ‘second coming’ of Solskjaer
And former Blackburn Rovers striker Sutton has some sympathy for Ten Hag but admits performances have to be better to avoid the pressure growing on the Dutchman.
Sutton wrote in his Daily Mail column: “Manchester United are not in such a big crisis as when Jose Mourinho was playing the blame game. He cut an isolated figure towards the end, with his mad, egotistical ramblings.
“But Erik ten Hag needs to solve this situation fast, because the scrutiny on him is increasing with every sub-standard showing.
“United are a club with the highest expectations. Always have been. Always will be. To have only won two of their opening five Premier League games — and they were lucky they won those — is not good enough.
“I feel for Ten Hag in a way. He couldn’t help the Mason Greenwood situation. He couldn’t help the Antony situation. I’m not even sure he can help that Jadon Sancho seems like a prima donna, because Ten Hag was only being honest about the player.
“When Mourinho was chucking everybody under the bus, he had lost the dressing room. It is not at that stage yet for Ten Hag.
“Bayern Munich on Wednesday will be tricky but United need to show a better version of themselves when they visit Burnley in the league on Saturday.”