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Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was fined $5,000 by the NHL on Tuesday for high sticking Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell.
The fine is the maximum allowable under the league's collective bargaining agreement.
The incident occurred with 7:02 remaining in the third period of the Panthers' 5-2 victory on Monday in Buffalo. Dahlin was assessed a minor penalty for slashing two seconds later.
Dahlin scored his first goal of the season in the second period on Monday. The 24-year-old Swede also has five assists and eight penalty minutes in 10 games this season.
Dahlin has totaled 298 points (67 goals, 231 assists) in 446 career games since being selected by the Sabres with the first overall pick of the 2018 NHL draft.
Jon Jones agrees to anger management classes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has agreed to attend four hours of anger management classes to resolve a pair of misdemeanor charges stemming from a drug test at his New Mexico home in which he was accused of being hostile.
A bench trial was set to begin Tuesday before a New Mexico judge, but a prosecutor and Jones' defense attorney announced at the start of the virtual proceeding that an agreement had been reached.
The charges of assault, a petty misdemeanor, and interference with communication, a misdemeanor, will be dismissed as along as Jones completes the anger management classes and follows all laws over the next 90 days.
Jones had pleaded not guilty in July, and when the allegations first became public earlier this year, he called them baseless. He posted on social media that he had been taken off guard by what he called the unprofessionalism of one of the testers and acknowledged cursing after getting frustrated.
Considered one of the top MMA fighters, Jones took the heavyweight title with a first-round submission over Ciryl Gane in March 2023. It was Jones' first fight in three years and his first in the heavyweight division. He already was the best light heavyweight by winning a record 14 title fights.
Jones will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at New York's Madison Square Garden. He and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a pectoral injury forced Jones to postpone.
In 2016, Jones was suspended for a year for a failed drug test and had his 2017 victory over Daniel Cormier turned into a no-contest after another drug test came up positive. Jones argued later that he would have passed under standards that were revised in 2019 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which changed the criteria for what constituted a positive test.
A woman who worked for Drug Free Sport International, which conducts tests for professional athletes, initially filed a report with Albuquerque police in April. She accused Jones of threatening her while she and a colleague were at Jones' home for a drug test.
A criminal complaint stated that the woman described Jones as cooperative at first but that he became agitated.
Jones told police that he apologized for swearing at the woman and her co-worker at the end of the test. He provided video from what appeared to be a home camera system showing the woman giving him a high-five before leaving. He said neither appeared scared during the interaction.
PGA Tour players proposing big changes for '26
The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council is recommending sweeping changes to field sizes, exemption status and the number of PGA Tour cards that can be obtained each season through the Korn Ferry Tour and Q-school, as well as a slight adjustment to the FedEx Cup points allocations for major championships, the Players Championship and signature events.
The changes, which wouldn't take effect until the 2026 season, must be approved by the PGA Tour policy board at its next meeting on Nov. 18.
The PGA Tour Player Advisory Council unveiled the proposed changes to golfers in a 23-page executive summary, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN on Tuesday.
Among the proposed changes:
The PGA Tour would adjust the maximum number of players in a starting field of an open one-course, full-field tournament from 156 to 144, with a further reduction from 132 to 120 as required by circumstances such as darkness.
In the executive summary, the PAC noted that 28% of tournaments in 2024 (12 of 43) had at least one round that wasn't completed on the scheduled day due to darkness.
"Field sizes that are too large make it difficult to finish the competition on schedule each day and cause delays in the overall pace of play, increasing the average round times on tour," the executive summary said.
Under the proposed plan, for instance, the field for the Players Championship would be reduced from 144 players to 120 and the RBC Canadian Open and Genesis Scottish Open would go from 156 to 144.
Tournaments played on multiple courses, such as the American Express, would maintain fields of 156 golfers.
The PAC said it considered adjusting the smaller limited fields of the tour's lucrative signature events, such as the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Tournament, but concluded that "any modification at this stage would be disruptive and could increase fan confusion."
The PAC proposed reducing the number of players who would maintain their PGA Tour card and full status from the top 125 finishers in FedEx Cup points to the top 100, while adding a new conditional category for those players who finish anywhere from 101 to 125.
The Korn Ferry Tour, which typically awards 30 PGA Tour cards per season, would now award only 20 cards under the proposed changes. The DP World Tour would continue to award 10 PGA Tour cards, and Q-school cards would be capped at five.
In exploring ways to "minimize the impact of field size changes on the current membership," the PAC also proposed a plan that would reduce or eliminate open qualifying (or Monday qualifying) positions for events with a field size smaller than 144 players. This would not apply to the FedEx Cup Fall events.
According to the executive summary, a review of open qualifying metrics revealed that 65% to 75% of players who make the field via a Monday qualifier do not make the cut. The tour said it plans to work with the PGA of America -- whose sections run the local Monday qualifiers -- should the proposed changes be approved.
Restricted sponsor exemptions, which include two reserved PGA Tour spots and two DP World Tour spots, will now be awarded to the next eligible members on the proposed priority ranking. Tournaments will still keep unrestricted sponsor exemptions.
The PAC is also proposing slight adjustments to the FedEx Cup points distribution system to account for increased strength of field under the new schedule model. Second-place finishes at the Players Championship and the majors would receive a slight increase (100 more points), while players who finish 11th and beyond would receive a slight decrease (10 points for 11th, 20 points for 12th and so on) in points won. During signature events, players who finish seventh or worse would receive a slight decrease in points.
Less than two weeks ago, PGA Tour Player Advisory Council chairman Camilo Villegas sent a letter to members alluding to the changes that would be proposed to the PGA Tour Policy Board for approval.
"In recent years, we have had to quickly implement substantial changes to the PGA Tour's competitive structure and schedule," Villegas said in the letter. "Now, we see an opportunity to shift our focus to address certain issues that are getting in the way of a fair and ideal player experience, preventing us from achieving the highest level of competition."
Sources: Lakers' Koloko medically cleared to play
Los Angeles Lakers center Christian Koloko has been medically cleared to play by the NBA's fitness-to-play panel, sources told ESPN.
He will begin practicing with the Lakers and will ramp up to play for the first time since a blood clot issue threatened his career last year.
Koloko's agent, Calvin Andrews of Klutch Sports, confirmed to ESPN that the center will begin full basketball activities this week.
The 7-footer's medical clearance is promising news for the Lakers' development program, which adds him to recent successes in Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht.
L.A. has been intrigued by Koloko, who has not played since April 2023 and now is expected to provide another center to play alongside Anthony Davis.
Koloko, 24, was the No. 33 pick in the 2022 draft, going to the Toronto Raptors. In 58 regular-season games with Toronto in 2022-23, he averaged 3.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.
Koloko, who signed a two-way contract with the Lakers in the offseason, played three seasons at the University of Arizona, averaging 12.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks in 2021-22 on his way to being named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.
England's Slade and Spencer start against All Blacks
Centre Henry Slade will resume his starting role in England's midfield against New Zealand on Saturday despite playing only 54 minutes of club rugby this season.
Slade had shoulder surgery in the summer and only made his comeback in Exeter's defeat by Harlequins last weekend.
Elsewhere, Ben Spencer, whose previous six caps have all come as a replacement, comes in for the injured Alex Mitchell at scrum-half, with Bristol's Harry Randall on the bench.
Tom Curry is included in the back row alongside Chandler Cunningham-South and Ben Earl, with brother Ben among six forwards replacements.
George Ford, fit again after a quad injury, is also on the bench, but there is no place for Sam Underhill, who started both England's July defeats in New Zealand, in the matchday squad.
Ellis Genge, who missed the summer tour with a calf injury, is back at loose-head prop and named as one of four vice-captains to back up skipper Jamie George.
Second row and new Saracens captain Maro Itoje, Ford and Earl complete the on-pitch leadership group.
"Were excited for the challenge of playing against one of the best teams in world rugby," said head coach Steve Borthwick.
"Well need to be accurate, keep our discipline, and maintain a level of intensity throughout the match, from the first whistle to the final moment.
"With just two games at Allianz Stadium in our last 15, its fantastic to be returning to play in front of our home crowd again."
Betting tips: How back-to-backs can help bettors pick
The amount of preparation, practice and pre-game work that goes into a single NHL game can go a long way to helping a team execute its plan on the ice. The ability to put in that effort ahead of time is impacted on significantly when a team is playing in a back-to-back set of games.
The Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks meet in a game in which each one is on the different half of a back-to-back set. The Sharks pulled out an OT win in Utah on Monday evening, while the Kings will head home to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday after Tuesday's contest.
The Kings do come in as heavy money line favorites, perhaps because of some of this back-to-back history.
ESPN has saved the past three years of betting odds for us to have a look at how back-to-back teams have fared. Remembering the premise of preparation being a key component to how NHL team's approach games, you may not be surprised to note that there is a trend when it comes to the team on the second-leg of a back-to-back.
In the past three seasons overall, when the favorite is on the road, they have won 904 out of 1,439 games - or 62.82%. But of those situations, when the home underdog is coming off a game the day before, the road favorite success rate jumps to 72.22% (130 out of 180 games). The historical data from ESPN doesn't include spread information, but, we can still do some inference. Overall road favorites have won by two or more goals in 40.93% of those 1,439 games; when the home underdog is completing a back-to-back set, that percentage climbs to 50.56%.
Having a tired team involved, as the Sharks are bound to be on Tuesday, also helps push goal totals. In the past three seasons, the overall over/under results in games with a home underdog have gone over 47.12% of the time. But exclusively in games when that home underdogs is playing for the second time in as many days, the over has hit 57.22% of the time.
The preparation and recovery between games have had clear implications on outcomes in the recent past, particularly for teams on the second half of a back-to-back. When a road team draws a home underdog on short rest, the results tend to tip in their favor - significantly increasing their win rate and often extending the margin of victory. Additionally, whether it's the toll on a team's energy or the frequent use of backup goaltenders in these exact situations, the goal totals tend to rise.
Featured games
New York Rangers at Washington Capitals
7:30 p.m., Capital One Arena
Rangers (-1.5, +165), -145 money line
Capitals (+1.5, -200), +125 money line
Total 5.5: (Over -135, Under +115)
From the world of one win of the Sharks, to the world of one regulation loss for the Rangers. New York visits the upstart (5-2-0) Capitals in the featured early contest.
It's Logan Thompson's turn in net for Washington, assuming they continue their strict rotation, while Igor Shesterkin should be back in action for the first time since last Thursday after getting Saturday's game off.
The Capitals are home underdogs, a label combination that has the lowest win total so far this season of the four (home/road, favorite/underdog) at just 13.1%, but the home dogs have fared well against the spread, beating it 26 out of 56 times this season (46.4%).
Of all the props, I like Tom Wilson for shots (Over 2.5, +107) because it has positive odds, the threshold isn't as high (Alex Ovechkin gets 3.5) and the Rangers are top 10 for shots allowed to opposing top-six forwards.
Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks
10 p.m., SAP Center
Kings (-1.5, -110), -275 money line
Sharks (+1.5, -110), +225 money line
Total 5.5: (Over -135, Under +115)
Given the above discussion, a Kings money line looks very good and, with a 5.5 total on offer, it can be parlayed with the over for plus odds (+121).
In the props department, the Sharks allow the fourth-most shots against to opposing top-six forwards so far this season. Kevin Fiala should be able to clear the Over 2.5 shots on goal threshold set for him (-130). For player points, Mikael Granlund has been a part of 13 of the Sharks total 23 goals, so you could argue that if they score, there is a better than 50-50 chance he earned a point (Over 0.5 Points, -230). However, the books know that, too, so you'll need to parlay to get decent return. Consider backing Fabian Zetterlund for a goal (Over 0.5 goals, +240), as he is coming off two on Monday.
Both teams are at the bottom of the league in penalty killing, too, both with 10 power-play goals allowed on the young season. Jake Walman (Over 0.5 total goals, +650) and Brandt Clarke (Over 0.5 power play points, +375) could make for good plays from the blue line. Walman was back as the quarterback on Monday for the Sharks after ceding time there to Jack Thompson (who was a healthy scratch).
Check out some of the top performers in fantasy NHL from Monday, including Kyle Connor and Keegan Kolesar.
Betting trends
On Monday, the Sharks earned their first win of the season, clawing back from a 4-1 deficit with five minutes to go in the third to beat Utah Hockey Club in overtime. Is there anything to be said for momentum in a case like this? We certainly don't have a big enough sample to look at first wins of the season as any kind of trend, but what about extending the back-to-back discussion to look at how the previous results can impact on the second leg.
With our data from the previous three seasons from ESPN, there are 391 times when a team played their second of consecutive games at home. Of those 391, the team in question won the first leg 197 times and lost 194 times.
Now the outcomes of the second leg: When a team playing at home is coming off a win the day before, they have a record of 100-97. When the home team on the second leg is coming off a loss, the record is 75-119.
This isn't unexpected; teams that win, win and teams that lose, lose. But what if we apply expectations to drill down even further?
If that second-leg home team is also an underdog on the books and they won the day before, the record is 23-52, or a win rate of 30.7%. If that underdog team is coming off a loss to play a consecutive game at home, the record is 27-78, or a win rate of 25.7%.
That is to say, the Sharks chances are improved because they won on Monday, but only marginally.
Maresca: No pressure from Chelsea for top 4 finish
Enzo Maresca has said he is under no pressure from Chelsea to secure Champions League qualification in his first season at the club.
Chelsea face Newcastle United in their Carabao Cup round-of-16 clash on Wednesday after defeating them 2-1 in Sunday's league match at Stamford Bridge.
The west London side reached the final of the Carabao Cup last season, losing to Liverpool in extra time under previous manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Since succeeding the Argentine, Maresca's side have lost three out of 14 matches across all competitions and are fifth in the league.
"The club never mentioned to me about top four. They always mentioned to me the target was to build something important for the next four or five years," Maresca told a news conference on Tuesday.
"For sure, we work every day to reach something important. Pressure, on the players? I don't think so, to be honest. If you go game by game, you can see yourself where you are in that moment. If you start to think about top four or top six, you are thinking about June and for me, it's too far."
Chelsea have no fresh injury concerns before their Carabao Cup clash and Maresca added that defender Wesley Fofana, who suffered a knock against Newcastle is fit to play.
Asked about former Manchester United player Jadon Sancho, has been an unused substitute in Chelsea's past two matches, Maresca said: "Players cannot maintain the same level for the whole season because the amount of games is huge, so the last two games he didn't play simply down to tactical decisions."
The 24-year-old joined Chelsea on loan from United after falling out with their former boss Erik ten Hag and Maresca added that the winger will have more playing time in the future.
"Jadon has been doing well since he arrived," Maresca said. "He will play many games and the only thing he has to do is continue to work hard and when we give him a chance, he has to take it."
Source: City rule out Amorim, Utd given clear run
Manchester City are not planning on getting involved in the pursuit for Rúben Amorim, a source has told ESPN, leaving Manchester United with a clear run as they negotiate with Sporting CP for the Portuguese coach.
Amorim has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Erik ten Hag, who was sacked by United on Monday.
There have been suggestions that the 39-year-old may wait to see if City make their own proposal after hiring Sporting director of football Hugo Viana to replace Txiki Begiristain at the end of the season.
However, a City source has told ESPN that their preference is for Pep Guardiola to extend his contract beyond the end of the season and that Amorim is not a top candidate to become the next manager even if there is a vacancy in the summer.
Amorim, according to the source, has admirers at the Etihad Stadium after a successful spell in charge of Sporting, but his style of play does not suit the way that City want to play.
Guardiola's first team and City's academy teams usually play in a 4-3-3 system. Amorim's preferred tactical set-up is a three-man defence in a 3-4-3 system.
It leaves United with a clear run to appoint Amorim as they continue to negotiate with Sporting. A source has told ESPN that his release clause is around 10 million ($12.9m).
United also hold an interest in Thomas Frank, but the release clause in his Brentford contract is nearly double that of Amorim's, according to a source.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has been appointed caretaker manager at Old Trafford in the wake of Ten Hag's dismissal.
He's set to take charge of the Carabao cup tie against Leicester City on Wednesday, but it is not clear whether he will be required to lead the team against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday.
'A pity' - Prem coaches react to Ten Hag's sacking
Premier League managers have expressed sympathy for Erik ten Hag after he was sacked by Manchester United on Monday, with Liverpool boss Arne Slot describing his compatriot's dismissal as "a pity" and Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola saying he feels "sorry" for him.
Ten Hag's two-and-a-half-year reign at Old Trafford came to an end after Sunday's 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium and he leaves with the club 14th in the Premier League table and without a victory in Europe in more than 12 months.
"He is a Dutch manager so that makes it even harder for me, for us as Dutch people," Slot told a news conference on Tuesday. "Always your first thoughts are with the person. We are all in this job so we know that it can happen but if it happens ... Especially because I know him a little bit and I know how much work he puts into it, and then to get this news for him is of course a pity.
"But we also know, especially us coming from Holland, how well he did at Ajax and that he won two trophies over here so we will see him I think in the near future at a big club again, but at this moment for him and his family it's of course ... Tragedy is maybe a bit too much to say but it's a big disappointment."
City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that he felt "sorry" for Ten Hag and said that job insecurity is part of the game for managers at the top level.
"I feel sorry for him," he said on Tuesday. "I don't see architects, doctors, teachers who get the sack, people expect results from us"
"If I didn't get results I wouldn't be here, it is a business. you have to take results."
Meanwhile, Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou said Ten Hag's exit was "almost inevitable."
Asked if he was shocked by the the Dutchman's sacking, Posetecoglou said: "No, not really shocked... As disappointing as it was, it was almost inevitable with the scrutiny he'd had so, yeah, it's just the nature of football these days."
Ruben Amorim has emerged as the leading contender to take over from Erik ten Hag at United, a source has told ESPN.
The Sporting CP coach is aware of the interest, according to the source, as is his club, with United attempting to move quickly to name a new permanent manager after appointing Ruud van Nistelrooy as the caretaker.
Why Ten Hag failed at Manchester United: From player disputes to bad results
Erik ten Hag craved control at Manchester United but it meant that, with problems piling up, there was nowhere to hide. In the end, his fingerprints were all over too much of the failure -- there were no excuses left -- and Sunday's 2-1 defeat at West Ham United proved to be his final act as manager.
Ten Hag did it his way, accommodated by the club at almost every turn, but still couldn't make it work. On a preseason trip to Oslo in the summer of 2023, he complained to club staff that the grass at the Ullevaal Stadion was longer than had been agreed. He was told that rain in the Norwegian capital overnight led to unexpected growth, and it was just one of those things; Ten Hag replied that it wasn't good enough.
The Dutchman enjoyed a lot of control while at Man United. He dictated details from the length of the grass to aid quicker passing to the layout of Old Trafford. Early on in his reign, Ten Hag was allowed to redesign a group video analysis room at Carrington -- complete with a huge screen, tiered flooring and interior decoration featuring images of United fans -- at a cost of more than 200,000. Yet his changes weren't restricted to the facilities.
Ten Hag changed the way players prepared for games, asking them to arrive four hours early for matches at Old Trafford in their own cars rather than spending the night before at a Manchester hotel and arriving together on a coach. He repurposed a large hospitality suite and turned it into a prematch room for his squad. He moved the lockers in the dressing room so the defenders sat to his left, and the midfielders and forwards sat to his right, when he stood in front of his tactics board.
At Old Trafford, Ten Hag insisted on switching the benches around to be nearer the tunnel, even though it meant his technical area would then straddle the halfway line, which, in his opinion, would give him a better view of the game. He was told it would cost money to make the change because the home benches are heated and the away benches are not, but Ten Hag put his foot down and got his way. He often did.
United knew what they were getting when they hired him from Ajax Amsterdam in the summer of 2022. Club bosses were told a story that when he first arrived at Ajax in December 2017, he continued to use a suitcase embroidered with the branding of his former club, FC Utrecht. He was told it was perhaps not the best look for the Ajax manager to be carrying Utrecht merchandise, but he liked the bag and used it anyway. Ajax bosses told their United counterparts that it showed "Ten Hag's stubbornness in a nutshell."
Ten Hag was the same at Old Trafford, but with so much control came ultimate responsibility for performances and results that were eventually deemed unacceptable. After a little over two years, four months in charge, Ten Hag was sacked on Monday after a run of just four wins from 13 matches in all competitions to start the 2024-25 season. Languishing at 14th in the table -- as close to the relegation places as the top four -- United were on course to place even lower than last season's worst-ever Premier League finish.
Ten Hag leaves with a record of 70 wins and 35 defeats in 128 games. The signs of discord have been there for a while and even though United sources insist Ten Hag has conducted himself with professionalism and dignity throughout his time at Old Trafford, his departure is no surprise.
Conflict with players from Ronaldo to Sancho
After completing the purchase of a 27.7% stake in the club early in 2024, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team were initially sympathetic to the issues faced by Ten Hag, but increasingly found that many of the problems pointed back to the manager.
Ten Hag survived their extensive end-of-season review largely because of the surprise FA Cup success over Manchester City on May 25, and because agreements couldn't be reached with other candidates including Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino. That victory was such a shock that a postmatch party had to be hastily arranged with no prior planning.
Ten Hag's contract was soon extended by a year after, but there was a feeling within the Ineos hierarchy even then that a change might be necessary if the form that saw them finish eighth in the Premier League last season -- United's lowest-ever finish in the league's 31-year history -- didn't drastically improve during the early part of the new campaign.
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake also arrived in a summer revamp of Ten Hag's coaching staff. Ten Hag had a previous relationship with Hake, but not with Van Nistelrooy, and it prompted some players to speculate that the former Netherlands international, who spent a year in charge of PSV Eindhoven between 2022 and 2023, would be a ready-made replacement if Ten Hag was sacked; exactly what ended up happening when Van Nistelrooy was appointed as caretaker manager on Monday.
It was telling that CEO Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth -- hired in by Ratcliffe and Ineos to revamp the club's footballing structure -- both distanced themselves from the decision to keep Ten Hag by making it known privately that they weren't involved in the conversations because they had not officially started in their new roles in July. It gave their public backing of Ten Hag in early September a hollow feel.
Gab & Juls discuss how long Ruud van Nistelrooy will get as interim manager at Man United.
Ten Hag's time in charge ultimately delivered two trophies in two years, but it was never easy.
After beginning his reign with defeats to Brighton and Brentford in August 2022, sources told ESPN there were early complaints from some players that Ten Hag struggled to communicate, and concerns that instructions were being lost in translation leading to confusion on the pitch. Following the 4-0 defeat to Brentford, one player told close friends that Ten Hag didn't know how to motivate, with players often finding him difficult to read. He could be jolly one day, and extremely serious the next. One source described Ten Hag as "too strict."
His disciplinarian approach was initially welcomed by senior players who believed standards had slipped under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, but some of his rules would cause additional issues.
Most players agreed that Cristiano Ronaldo was in the wrong when he refused to come on as a substitute against Tottenham in October 2022 but, after seemingly winning the battle of wills initially, sources told ESPN many within the club soon started to think Ten Hag had taken the punishment too far.
Ronaldo was initially ordered to train away from the first team, but when he tried to enter the dressing room and retrieve a pair of his trainers, he was told by staff he wasn't allowed in. The stand-off ended only when Ronaldo enlisted an academy player to go into the dressing room for him, with a number of senior players viewing the blanket ban as an unnecessary humiliation.
The fallout with Ronaldo was seismic, but although the Portugal legend's departure from Old Trafford during the break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup was relatively clean, a similar situation with Jadon Sancho was not.
Sancho was a high-profile and highly coveted signing when announced on July 1, 2021. His arrival, fresh off the back of four brilliant years at Borussia Dortmund, was seen as a coup for United in the face of interest from other top clubs, but things quickly devolved after a promising start.
Mark Ogden reacts to the timing of Man United's sacking of Erik ten Hag.
A public fallout between the England international and Ten Hag was followed by four months of Sancho being made to train, eat and change on his own. A number of players tried to encourage Sancho to apologise, but the longer the situation went on, the more players began to believe that -- again -- Ten Hag had taken things too far. Sources have told ESPN that Ten Hag wanted Sancho to say sorry publicly because the player had made the conflict public on social media, but sources tell ESPN that some players viewed the demand as an unnecessary humiliation.
The Sancho situation increasingly became an embarrassment. As Sancho -- sent on loan to former club Dortmund in January 2024 -- was tearing holes in Paris Saint-Germain during the Champions League semifinal first leg in April, United representatives sent messages to high-profile pundits telling them to stop talking up the forward's contribution because it reflected badly on the club.
With no one willing to match Sancho's valuation over the summer, Ten Hag was convinced to allow him back into first-team training. He remained reluctant throughout the uneasy truce, feeling that it could be viewed as a loss of his authority. Eventually Sancho joined Chelsea in a cut-price loan deal on Deadline Day in August 2024.
Players question his training methods as injuries mount
Sancho was one of a number of issues Ten Hag faced during a particularly difficult second season. Injuries were a problem, and not just the volume of them: United had to deal with 45 separate cases during that campaign.
Players questioned the intensity of some of the training sessions and were often left thinking they would benefit from more individually tailored programmes. One senior player put his injury problems down to being asked to train in the same way as much younger squad members, believing instead that he should be allowed longer to recover after games.
Sources have told ESPN that Ten Hag would use extra training as a response to poor results and performances, which many players found counterproductive. They would feel tired ahead of the next game, lose, and then be given more extra training. Ten Hag's answer was always that Premier League football is intense, so training must be the same.
Towards the end of last season, Ten Hag was cutting an increasingly isolated figure. Members of his own staff began to question why the team was being set up in the same way despite often conceding 20 or more shots. Players, too, began to feel the team was "too open."
Ten Hag never lost the entire dressing room in the way Jose Mourinho did before he was sacked but, over time, more and more individuals began to develop their own gripes. Ratcliffe's right-hand man at Ineos, Sir Dave Brailsford, held one-on-one meetings with the squad in February and again in April. There was an overriding feeling that support for the manager within the dressing room had dipped significantly during the intervening two months.
Ten Hag put his case forward to Ratcliffe and Brailsford, insisting that "no team in the world" could have coped with the amount of injuries Man United had suffered. He pointed to his promotion of youngsters Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, and voiced his frustration that the club had missed out on signing stars like Frenkie de Jong (who stayed at Barcelona), Alexis Mac Allister (who joined Liverpool), Federico Valverde (who remained at Real Madrid) and Harry Kane (who went to Bayern Munich).
Sources have told ESPN that Ineos was told during conversations with the recruitment team that many of Ten Hag's transfer demands were "unrealistic."
Tension over recruitment and transfer policies
Recruitment was a contentious issue throughout Ten Hag's time at Old Trafford. His demand for control over transfers saw United terminate their collaboration with Rangnick, who had agreed a two-year deal to act as a consultant. When Ten Hag took over in the summer of 2022, Rangnick expected to meet face-to-face for a detailed meeting about the state of the squad only to discover the new United manager was willing to only grant him a phone call.
One player Ten Hag did get was Antony. Having worked together at Ajax, Ten Hag was the driving force behind signing the Brazilian winger, but the transfer has been an unmitigated disaster. During talks with Ineos, Ten Hag said that, while he wanted Antony, it was not his fault that the fee had risen to more than 85 million when he was available for a much lower price earlier in the summer of 2022. A source has told ESPN that Ajax could not believe the offer United eventually made because it was so far above his market value, while other sources note that signing Antony and Casemiro was partly driven by the panic caused by those early defeats to Brighton and Brentford.
There was further tension in recruitment meetings following the Ineos takeover, with Brailsford keen to stress that responsibility for signings would ultimately be handed to Ashworth and technical director, Jason Wilcox.
Ten Hag at first struggled to build a working relationship with Wilcox, dismissing him as somebody who lacked the credentials for his job, having previously run Man City's academy set-up and then a year as Southampton director of football. Things improved following talks over the summer, but Ten Hag was still reluctant to give up control, arguing that he had been granted a transfer veto in his contract. Sources have told ESPN that Ineos was not impressed with his record in the market.
Ten Hag insisted that he hadn't pushed for every transfer made under his watch and instead was forced to accept certain players because positions had to be filled. He wanted Kane -- an experienced goal scorer -- when the club was looking for a striker in the summer of 2023 and instead got Rasmus Højlund, a young player with vast potential but very much a work in progress.
Furthermore, Ten Hag was exasperated by the club's financial situation and viewed both January transfer windows during his reign as missed opportunities. He was allowed to only sign Wout Weghorst and Marcel Sabitzer on short-term loans in January 2023, and his request for a striker in January 2024 to help ease the burden on Hojlund was turned down.
According to a source, Ten Hag insisted that he had to sign Antony, Lisandro Martínez and Casemiro in part because they were strong characters who were vital to deal with a dressing room that was in a mess post-Rangnick. Antony and Martinez demanded Ajax let them go -- Martinez at one point argued directly with an Ajax official over a move to United -- which impressed Ten Hag and football director John Murtough.
Martinez, a staunch Ten Hag supporter, was missed in the dressing room and on the training pitch during a long injury layoff between September 2023 and January 2024. The Argentinian was encouraged to spend more time around the squad during a particularly poor run of form in December 2023, when staff reported back to Ten Hag that he was close to losing the support of some influential senior players.
Defenders Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs De Ligt and arrived from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2024, but the United hierarchy was initially unconvinced as to why the club needed the latter player, having just signed Leny Yoro to a long-term deal. Mazraoui was seen as a straight replacement for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who ultimately joined West Ham, while De Ligt was felt to be decent value and added more depth at a problem position. After discussions with Ten Hag, they sanctioned it due to the low costs involved.
Ten Hag did his best to manage the squad with an emphasis on individual meetings but, privately, he accepted it was a step up from what he had known at Ajax and found United players were almost "businesses" in their own right with huge entourages around them, all with their own opinions. On one occasion, a request made by a player's PR representative for more exposure on the club's social media channels ended up on his desk.
Ten Hag, according to sources, made a conscious effort to avoid criticising individuals in the media for fear that it would do more harm than good. After almost capitulating to Championship side to Coventry City in the FA Cup semifinal in April, he kept the players in the Wembley dressing room for so long that by the time they came out, the Coventry players were lined up waiting to swap shirts. But in his news conference immediately afterward, he decided to shield his squad, instead focusing on the fact United had won the game on penalties to reach a second successive FA Cup final.
Rob Dawson examines the potential replacements for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
Some staff felt Ten Hag protected his players too much and instead inadvertently made himself a lightning rod for criticism. Ten Hag, though, believed that many players didn't respond well to public criticism and that it was important to keep the dressing room behind him as best he could. He repeatedly backed Marcus Rashford despite concerns about his body language during training and games.
Ten Hag wanted to stay in control, even if it increased an already massive workload. He picked the squad numbers for new signings -- it was his decision to hand Mason Mount the No. 7 shirt rather than to Garnacho -- and wanted to know what media commitments players had, why they were doing it and whether or not they were contractually obliged.
When club staff were worried Ten Hag was being asked to hold too many news conferences, they suggested former assistant Steve McClaren could take over before a Carabao Cup tie. Ten Hag declined, insisting the "message" always had to come from him. According to a source, a request made by a TV company to speak to Van Nistelrooy in August was turned down on Ten Hag's say-so.
On one occasion Ten Hag cancelled his own interview with Robin van Persie, who had flown to Manchester to conduct it, because it clashed with his training schedule. Nothing got in the way of his work -- something acknowledged by Ratcliffe and Brailsford -- but it wasn't enough to save him after a disastrous end to his second season and miserable start to his third.
In the end, too many bad results
Ten Hag is one of only four managers in United's history to win trophies in consecutive seasons alongside Ernest Mangnall, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson, but winning the FA Cup was achieved against a backdrop of United's worst league season for 34 years.
When Ratcliffe and Ineos began the process of investing in United in November 2022, they had no intention of sacking Ten Hag. Even early this year, their feeling was that the structure at the club was wrong and that any manager would struggle to perform. But after finally formalising their agreement to buy a minority stake in February, setbacks on the pitch came thick and fast.
James Olley and Mark Ogden discuss whether the ex-England manager could take the helm at Old Trafford.
The 2-1 defeat to Fulham at Old Trafford on Feb. 24 was considered a watershed moment. Ten Hag called the squad into Carrington the following day and made them watch a replay of the game in full before going out to train.
Six weeks later, Ratcliffe was in the stands at Stamford Bridge as United conceded twice in stoppage time to lose 4-3 to a Chelsea team that was also in a state of flux. Sources have told ESPN that Ratcliffe made his frustration with the performance well-known both during and after the game. Ratcliffe was in the stands again at Wembley as United threw away the three-goal lead against Coventry, and it was followed two weeks later by the humiliating 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
Ten Hag had started to seriously fear that he was not in Ratcliffe's long-term plans in March when he was informed that assistant Benni McCarthy -- a key member of staff in his first two years -- had not been approached about signing a new contract. Chelsea's surprise decision to part company with Pochettino in late May prompted concerns among United's new leadership team that they had to act quickly because both clubs would be picking from the same pool of managers.
It led to discussions with potential candidates in the week leading up to the FA Cup final, a situation considered so humiliating that close friends advised Ten Hag to quit.
Sat in the Wembley news conference theatre after beating Man City, Ten Hag was defiant saying that if Ratcliffe and the new co-owners "don't want me, then I go somewhere else to win trophies because that is what I do."
In the same room in February 2023, he walked into his news conference carrying the Carabao Cup -- United's first trophy for six years -- and nearly left it on the desk before joking that he was "already thinking about the next one." After two in two years, he won't get the chance to make it three in three.
Liverpool's Arne Slot reacts to the sacking of fellow Dutch manager Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
The surprise victory over City in the FA Cup final was enough to keep him in a job for another six months, but the goodwill built up after that day at Wembley eventually eroded. Their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in September caused renewed worry among United's leadership that Ten Hag may not be able to turn things around.
After that, United's 3-0 defeat to Tottenham a month later was another nail in his coffin. A source has told ESPN that after Bruno Fernandes had been sent off late in the first half, the players were unsure what Ten Hag's plan was as they emerged for the second 45 minutes and conceded just two minutes into the half.
Serious consideration was given to sacking Ten Hag during the October international break and, despite beating Brentford when domestic fixtures resumed, the 2-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday was the tipping point. The final decision was made on Sunday night, and Ashworth and Berrada were waiting at Carrington early on Monday morning to deliver the news.
With Van Nistelrooy left to prepare for his interim role and a Carabao Cup game against Leicester City on Wednesday, Ten Hag was driven out of Carrington for the last time and on Monday afternoon arrived at Manchester airport to fly home to the Netherlands.
United handed Ten Hag the keys to Old Trafford when he arrived. Two years on, he's been told to give them back.
Additional reporting by Mark Ogden.