The executive team Sir Jim Ratcliffe has assembled since INEOS became a minority shareholder in Man United in February is due to hold its regular board meeting on Tuesday, and Ten Hag's future is likely to be on the agenda.
But those responsible for running the club's football operations - Ratcliffe, Dave Brailsford (INEOS sporting director), Omar Berrada (Man United chief executive), Dan Ashworth (Man United sporting director) and Jason Wilcox (Man United technical director) - are unlikely to make the decisions they inevitably need to make.
Although Ten Hag has been responsible for the Red Devils' worst starts to a Premier League campaign in two consecutive seasons, how much responsibility does the former Ajax coach bear?
Poor decisions, both on and off the pitch, have left United falling behind title rivals Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal.
Where did England's biggest football club and 20-time league champions go wrong?
Ten Hag’s position has been the subject of intense speculation for more than a year, with results and performances poor in the face of Ratcliffe’s £1.25bn investment. The team finished eighth last season, with a negative goal difference, and INEOS have been eyeing a replacement for Ten Hag.
Ratcliffe's team held talks with Thomas Tuchel, Roberto de Zerbi, Kieran McKenna and Mauricio Pochettino, while Gareth Southgate, Gary O'Neil and Graham Potter were also considered. However, United's surprise FA Cup final win over Man City in May saw Ten Hag keep his job.
It took weeks for the club to confirm that not only would Ten Hag not be sacked, but that he would be given a one-year contract extension. Ratcliffe’s team took the easy way out. And the start of this season has only shown how wrong that decision was.
To soften the blow, Ratcliffe did not want to sack a manager without Berrada and Ashworth at Old Trafford, both of whom were on trial after leaving their previous positions at Man City and Newcastle.
But the decision to keep Ten Hag led to Man United's worst performance in 25 years.
United have a history of backing struggling managers, a reputation that dates back to resisting calls for Sir Alex Ferguson to be sacked when United seemed to be going nowhere in the 1989-90 season. This is United’s worst start to a campaign since then, and they will be hoping Ten Hag can pull off a similar turnaround.
Ferguson stayed put and delivered two decades of success, turning Man United into the biggest and most successful club in England.
The Ferguson saga is said to have helped David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keep their jobs at Old Trafford. Their downfalls were inevitable long before they were sacked.
But if Man United are waiting for a repeat of Ferguson's story, they are making many other mistakes that will keep the team stuck in the same place for many more years.
