Erik ten Hag names the two Man Utd players who can save him from the sack

On Thursday night, Ten Hag witnessed yet another tumultuous performance as his team squandered a two-goal advantage against Porto, only to secure a last-minute equalizer after being reduced to 10 players.

Injuries have again hindered United’s slow start to the season, but Ten Hag firmly believes that his squad will resemble a more cohesive unit once Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia regain their full fitness.

‘I think they can both play there but for the patterns I prefer in this moment Diogo but both of course are right backs,’ TenHag said about being forced to play Diogo Dalot and summer recruit Noussair Mazraoui out of position.

‘And that is another area where we have personnel issues and already for a long time we have personnel issues there.

‘So definitely we will improve as a team if we get a consistent left-footed full-back.

‘So we are waiting for Luke Shaw, we are waiting for Tyrell Malacia to return to the squad and of course that will definitely help consistent performance levels.’

Whether Ten Hag can perform another act of escapology and remains to be seen but the signs were not encouraging for the former Ajax manager judging by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s response on Friday to the recent run of poor results.

When asked if he still has faith in Ten Hag, Ratcliffe told BBC Sport: ‘I think I don’t want to answer that question… I like Erik.

‘I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.

‘But that team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June, July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April – [CEO] Omar [Berrada], [sporting director] Dan Ashworth – they only arrived in July.

‘They’ve only been there… you can count it in weeks almost, they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.

‘Our objective is very clear – we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously – that’s very clear. There’s work to be done.’