Guardiola backs Ten Hag 'to come back stronger' after Man Utd dismissal

Pep Guardiola is confident Erik ten Hag will "come back stronger" after he was sacked by Manchester United. 

Ten Hag's two-year tenure at Old Trafford came to an end on Monday following the Red Devils' 2-1 defeat to West Ham in the Premier League 24 hours earlier. 

During the Dutchman's time at United, he faced Guardiola seven times, losing five matches and winning two, with one of those victories coming in the FA Cup final in May. 

Ten Hag, however, has failed to build on that success at Wembley. United find themselves 14th in the Premier League, picking up 11 points from their first nine games. 

"I feel very sorry for him, it's one of the best jobs in football. There's only us, it's not teachers or architects or something like that," Guardiola said. 

"I wish him all the best and he will come back stronger. If the results aren't good enough, you get sacked. No-one is different, myself included."

Ten Hag took charge of 85 Premier League games and lost 27 of them. That is the highest total of losses by any United manager since Alex Ferguson.

His loss rate of 31.8% is the second worst of all Red Devils managers in the Premier League era after David Moyes (32.4%), who was only in position for 34 matches.

United faced 1,739 shots in their 128 games under Ten Hag.

In comparison, since the 2022-23 season, City have faced 717 fewer shots than the Red Devils despite playing six more games in that time.

Ruud van Nistelrooy, who joined Ten Hag's coaching staff this past summer, will take charge as interim head coach during the club's search for a permanent replacement.