Following his team’s tenth loss of the year, Erik ten Hag reportedly wants to hold onto the Manchester United locker room. On Saturday, United fell to Newcastle United 1-0, although more people were concerned by the visitors’ dismal performance at St. James’ Park than the result.

Ten Hag had a happy debut season, winning the Carabao Cup to snap the team’s six-year trophy drought and placing third in the Premier League to earn a Champions League berth.

United began a 31-game home unbeaten streak that continued into this season at Old Trafford, where they just lost twice.

More recently, Ten Hag won his first 50 games as Red Devils manager in just 79 games, matching Ernest Mangnall’s 118-year record.

But sometimes the realities of this season cannot be ignored in favor of the greater picture. In actuality, though, United has given off the impression that they are already bracing for the fifth manager to fail since Sir Alex Ferguson.

With one game left in their Champions League group, United is at the bottom of their group, nine points behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League and seventh in the league.

They won’t even qualify for the Europa League if they lose at Old Trafford to Bayern Munich, who have won 39 of their group stage matches.

United’s Carabao Cup defense came to an end in the fourth round when they lost 3-0 at home against Newcastle United in a rematch of the February final.

It’s said that Ten Hag’s potential regression in his second season at Old Trafford is causing stress in the locker room.

ESPN reports that the Dutchman is fighting to keep his team behind him after two players privately voiced their concerns.

Ten Hag’s rigorous training regimen since the team’s US preseason tour has been seen as a major problem.

They might be connected to United’s ongoing injury problems this season. Due to illness or injury, more than 20 senior players have missed at least one game.

According to the report, a portion of Ten Hag’s team believes his tactics are careless because of how open the club has been to shots on goal.

Following his adoption of a tough disciplinarian stance during his first 18 months as coach, Ten Hag has taken attempts to preserve his players’ faith.

He is rumored to have tried to publicly support Marcus Rashford and Andre Onana in spite of their subpar performances.

But with matches against Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and Aston Villa coming up this month, Ten Hag’s toughest task will be to make sure the results improve before things become worse.