The Dutch manager's job is under threat after yet another shambolic defeat – but he has the power to turn things around at Old Trafford

A banner reading ‘Welcome to Hell’ and thousands of hostile supporters was the greeting Manchester United received when they landed in Istanbul to play Galatasaray in 1993. Thirty years later, they are back in the Inferno. And there are no visible escape signs.

Just when United thought their harrowing season could not get any worse, they found a whole new way to suffer in their shambolic 3-2 defeat at home to Galatasaray on Tuesday. They gave away three cheap goals, there was yet another Andre Onana howler, and a Casemiro red card. United supporters at Old Trafford also had to endure the sight of hundreds of Galatasaray fans infiltrating the home section as well as the Turkish club’s directors celebrating wildly.

Worst of all, United have no points from their first two Champions League matches and are bottom of their group after making their worst-ever start to a group stage. They are also enduring a shocking run of results in the Premier League, losing four of their opening seven games, including their last two home matches, against Brighton and Crystal Palace, respectively. For the first time, Erik ten Hag is starting to face questions about his future and the club is being forced to insist that they still back the manager.

Ten Hag’s job might be safe for now, but he should be concerned. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho were all sacked when they had more points per game than Ten Hag has right now, while they were also higher in the league table and doing better in Europe than the Dutchman, who is heading for a humiliating exit from the Champions League unless things drastically improve in their next four games.

The only consolation for Ten Hag is that the last manager to take fewer points than him at this stage of the season was Sir Alex Ferguson. The legendary Scot’s job was on the line after a 5-1 defeat at Manchester City in the 1989-90 season, and in December 1989 one fed-up fan held up a now infamous banner reading 'Three Years of Excuses And It's Still Cr*p – Tara Fergie'.

United resisted the urge to sack Ferguson then and were handsomely rewarded for their patience and faith. Now Ten Hag must convince the club's hierarchy he is worth trusting with turning their fortunes around.

GOAL looks at six ways the Dutchman can reverse United's decline and ensure he stays in the job…

Getty ImagesStop playing Amrabat at left-back

United are only having to play Sofyan Amrabat out-of-position as a last resort due to having four of their five natural full-backs out injured, but it clearly isn't working. The Morocco international had a solid first game against a heavily-rotated Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup, but his deficiencies at left-back became apparent in the league game against Palace, when he gave away the free-kick from which the Eagles scored the only goal of the game. He was even more exposed in the blitz against Galatasaray, with two of the visitors' goals coming from his left side.

In the aftermath of the Galatasaray defeat, Ten Hag admitted that the area was a problem. "Maybe we have a little unbalance [on the] left side but we can't make the errors we are making. We have to do better, we have to win our games," he said. The manager also added "there are no excuses" and it is up to him to find a solution.

Sergio Reguilon is the only left-back with hope of returning to face Brentford on Saturday, but it would also be a risk to bring him back before he is fully recovered, especially considering he picked up the injury playing at Burnley despite being ill.

If the Spaniard is still not available, Ten Hag could play Diogo Dalot at left-back and bring Victor Lindelof over to right-back, with either Harry Maguire or Jonny Evans partnering Raphael Varane in the middle. It's not an ideal solution, but it is better than continuing with an experiment that just isn't working.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMake more use of pressing monster Hannibal

Hannibal Mejbri is the one United midfielder who looks energised and motivated, and Ten Hag needs to make better use of him. The Tunisia international put in an impressive shift against Burnley two weeks ago, running 12.9 kilometres in the match, more than any other player in a United game since the metric started being recorded in 2019. But he is only being used sparingly.

Ten Hag said that at as Hannibal is only 20, he is not ready to play twice a week, but at the moment United lack so much pace, power and desire in midfield that they need to keep playing him.

Hannibal gave United hope in an otherwise disheartening defeat to Brighton and was one of the top performers at Turf Moor. He looked lively against Galatasaray but was taken off at half-time as he had picked up a booking and United badly suffered in the middle of the park in his absence as they kept on getting cut through on the break.

Like it or not, Hannibal is the hardest working player United have right now and he deserves to play more.

GettyLift Rashford's low confidence levels

The Galatasaray game showed Rashford at his best and his worst. In the first half, he was at the heart of United's best moves and tore down the right wing to deliver a perfect cross for Rasmus Hojlund to nod in. His movement was excellent and kept the visitors on edge.

But his decision-making after being played clean through on goal in the second half just underlined how low his confidence is. The Rashford of last season would have buried the chance, but instead the striker tried to play in Bruno Fernandes, under-hitting his pass and allowing Galatasaray to clear the danger.

It is clear something is not right with Rashford, but Ten Hag and the forward need to solve the problem together. This is no time for finger-pointing or singling out for blame, and dropping him abruptly is not the answer.

Rashford has used a sports psychologist in the past to work on his mentality and that could be the way to get him firing again. But United need to support their homegrown talisman, and that also goes for the fans, who are getting on his back when they should be getting behind him.

Getty ImagesKeep feeding Hojlund

There was at least one silver lining from Tuesday's horrorshow. Hojlund's performance was reminiscent of Wayne Rooney's Champions League debut at Old Trafford – incidentally against Fenerbahce, Galatasaray's arch rivals – and the Danish striker's second goal, bursting through the middle of the pitch from the halfway line, also brought back memories of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

United began the season with no striker due to Hojlund's back injury and Anthony Martial's long-running fitness issues, and suffered as a result. But now they appear to have fixed that problem, and while their £72 million ($87m) man is fit and firing, holes are appearing everywhere else in the squad.

Hojlund, however, can be a galvanising force and another home fixture, this time against Brentford, is the perfect opportunity for him to build on the momentum and score his first Premier League goal, hopefully while leading the team to a much-needed victory.

The Dane thrives on through balls behind the defence, so United need to give him more of those and ensure he has another forward alongside him to take advantage of the chaos he causes.