What are you talking about ? Progress is all that matters. As soon as its clear ETH can't achieve meaningful progress bin him, get a new manager in and have that manager start implementing his style. It would be idiotic and waste of a season to keep ETH, knowing he's not the long term manager. Keeping him to prove a point to fans makes no sense whatsoever.
If I was DOF for UTD, I'd fire him after the game and start a process to look for a new manager to save this season. Because the rate we are going at, we will be out of top 4 by christmas. We can't afford another wasted season. Even if we miss top 4, I'd prefer to start the next season with a manager who had time to prepare the team this season so we can hit the ground running next season