Statistics offer few clues to why Manchester United decided to stick with Erik ten Hag

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Did winning the FA Cup save ten Hag from the sack? Credit: PA Images

Manchester United's new heirarchy may have ended the suspense surrounding Erik ten Hag by deciding to stick with the Dutch manager - but is there any clue to that decision in his stats?

United's poor form in the 2023-24 Premier League saw them finish eighth with a goal difference of minus one. They condeded 58 goals - 24 more than title winners and rivals Manchester City.

But ten Hag still has the second-best win rate of any United manager since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ten Hag has 66 wins from 114 games in charge, and could point to a 57.9 per cent win record – as well as the FA Cup final victory against local rivals Manchester City – to make the case for his continued employment.

Ferguson was just short of 60 per cent and of the five permanent managers appointed since, plus interim boss Ralf Rangnick, only Jose Mourinho - with 58.3 per cent - ranks above ten Hag.

But the Dutchman has lost 27.2 per cent of games - more than all bar Rangnick (27.6 per cent) and David Moyes (29.4), as his side struggle to turn defeats into draws – just 17 games, or 14.9 per cent, have ended all square.

Ten Hag celebrates United's FA Cup final win on the touchline at Wembley Credit: PA Images

A nine-game winning run from November 2022 to January 2023, the first two before the mid-season World Cup break and seven more after the resumption, equalled United’s longest such sequence of the post-Ferguson era – set initially under Mourinho from December 2016 to January 2017.

But defensive frailties, exacerbated by a string of injuries to defensive players, saw them achieve their lowest finish of the Premier League era in 2023-24 and they also ended up bottom of a Champions League group containing Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.

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Ten Hag’s side have conceded 148 goals over his two seasons, with their average of 1.30 per game higher than even the 1.28 in a lost half-season under Rangnick (37 in 29 games).

They have conceded four or more in a game seven times under ten Hag, losing 6-3 and 7-0 to bitter rivals Manchester City and Liverpool respectively in his first season while in his second they let in three or more goals on more occasions (15) than they kept clean sheets (13).

Marcus Rashford's lack of goals was just one of ten Hag's issues in the 2023-24 season Credit: PA Images

As far as trophies are concerned, ten Hag is only the second post-Ferguson manager with multiple trophies to his name, adding the FA Cup to the 2022-23 Carabao Cup.

Mourinho again stands out as the most successful manager of that era after winning both the League Cup and Europa League in the 2016-17 season to add to a Community Shield.

Ten Hag escapes the fate of fellow Dutchman Van Gaal, who was sacked in 2016 immediately after winning the FA Cup. Moyes, like Mourinho, won the Community Shield in his first game but the Scot was unable to build on that.

Ferguson won 38 trophies in 27 years at United, with his 13 Premier League titles alone exceeding the club’s total trophy count in 11 seasons since his departure.

Ten Hag, who also won three Eredivisie titles and two Dutch Cups with Ajax, defiantly stated amid the speculation after the FA Cup final: “If they don’t want me any more, then I go anywhere else to win trophies because that is what I did my whole career.”