'Man Utd is not Ajax' - Zlatan Ibrahimovic admits Ten Hag risks sack

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 3 Oct 2023 10:51 BST
• 4 min read

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has told Erik ten Hag that Manchester United cannot be treated in the same way as Ajax, and admits that the Dutch coach risks the sack at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag is under heavy pressure after Man Utd made their worst start to a season in 34 years.

They have lost four of their opening seven matches in the Premier League and also were defeated by Bayern Munich in matchday one of the Champions League.

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The hashtag #TenHagOut was trending on social media after the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend.

Ten Hag has also suffered problems off the pitch, including fallouts with Jadon Sancho and the now departed Cristiano Ronaldo.

Former Ajax and Man Utd superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic - who scored 29 goals in 53 games for United between 2016 and 2018 - has now had his say on the issue.

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What did Zlatan say about Ten Hag?

"Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference — I have been in both clubs. You have a different kind of discipline. Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don’t have big stars," Ibrahimovic told TalkTV.

"What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality. The players there are supposed to be big stars. I don’t think you give the same treatment.

"How much time do you give a coach? It depends on the owners, what they want, but if you listen to the fans, you don’t have a lot of time because they want to win, and I understand them because they are used to winning and they want to still win.

"United has to win, they have to win every title they play for. Now they are being dominated by neighbours Man City and it’s a totally different situation there. Everybody has a responsibility to fulfil the demands.

"You need to find the right path again and to push for that. You need a plan, you need a project to follow. It feels like you follow a project plan and then it goes wild in a moment because of the results.

"Either you believe in it or you don’t believe in it. But with the situation of the coach, I think he is living two different situations now. Then obviously what happened with Sancho and Cristiano, I don’t know. When things are good, there are still errors and problems, but you don’t see it because we are winning."

United are next in action on Tuesday as they play Galatasaray in a crucial Champions League home match.

As for Zlatan, who also claimed during the wide-ranging interview that he would make a great James Bond villain, he retired from playing in the summer after a legendary career spanning four decades.