Erik ten Hag Man Utd Aston Villa GFXGOAL

Erik ten Hag's last stand: Man Utd's bumbling manager must beat Aston Villa to save his job - lose & INEOS will have no choice but to put Dutchman out of his misery

It's some sort of minor miracle that Erik ten Hag is still employed by Manchester United.

There have been far, far too many points of infamy over the last 12 months of his Old Trafford reign. The Coventry City FA Cup semi-final, the 100th-minute collapse at Chelsea, leading Brentford on minute 96 before being pegged back on minute 98, the Selhurst Park massacre, thrashing after thrashing and humbling after humbling.

It would be difficult for players of Football Manager and EAFC to recreate these ludicrous feats in fictional worlds, let alone allow them to play out in reality.

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Every time you think the Red Devils have turned a corner, they lurch back into habits of old. There is no learning from past failures, only the doom to repeat them.

And so United are stuck in a loop. Ten Hag supposedly has one more chance to break that cycle - or else it will surely be his head on the chopping block.