Premier League: Ten Hag is just another fall guy for inept Man United players
Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.
A SUNDAY Premier League fixture in May between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford would have once upon a time meant a title-deciding encounter. And in a way, tomorrow’s game is no exception, the title may well be decided there. Except this time United’s role at The Theatre of Dreams is that of a mere extra in the play for league supremacy.
You can also forget about Champions League qualification, United realistically are now struggling to even qualify for the Europa Conference League. With the difficult task of beating City in the FA Cup or being a runner-up there and then finishing in the top seven (they are in eighth place now) as their last hope of seeing European action next season.
How has a side tipped by most pundits last summer as title contenders fallen to such a position?
Well, after this week’s 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Crystal Palace, the whispers on manager Erik ten Hag’s future at the club has risen to a distinctly audible murmur. The buck stops with the manager and there is no denying that the stats behind United’s season makes for depressing reading for Red Devils fans.
Beyond their mid-table position this season, the side have conceded the most goals (81) since way back in the 1976-1977 season, worse again, they have suffered the most defeats since 1977-78. And maybe worst of all, is the manner they have capitulated to so many of their opponents.
Monday’s defeat in south London summed up United’s season perfectly. While ostensibly dominating possession at Selhurst Park, United looked to be in a state of panic whenever Palace reclaimed the ball.
Ten Hag was hired to bring his style of up-field pressure on the ball and opposition, but it was Palace doing all the pressing on Monday. United looked to be in disarray whenever they didn’t have the ball, epitomised in Palace’s opener when Casemiro blindly slid in on Michael Olise, completely missing the tackle and completely missing the point of his role on the field. Casemiro had the kind of night you might see in Hollywood horror but at least he tried to make a tackle on Olise. The rest of his United team-mates timidly backed off as the Palace winger almost languidly strolled the ball into the back of the United net from midfield.
The entire United team seems to have a communication problem or is it as Jamie Carragher said after the game, “they are the most poorly coached team in the Premier League”.
United’s front three press high but the defence fail to them up-field allowing for huge gaps in the middle of the park for opponents to exploit. Allowing any competent side acres of room to counterattack.
Such was the case against Palace, and Burnley the week before. And even against Sheffield and Coventry, which United managed to win but just by the skin of their teeth, especially luckily against Coventry in the FA Cup semi-final. So if it’s a question of coaching and players not following the tactical script then it’s the coach/manager’s fault. Right?
That would be the usual conclusion from the analysis of a dysfunctional season, but for the fact that we’ve been through this before, so many times before. David Moyes, fired in 2014. Louis van Gaal fired in 2016, José Mourinho fired in 2018, Ole Gunnar Solskjær fired in 2021 and Ralf Rangnick moved on in 2022. All these managers failed to ignite their team at Old Trafford despite possessing extensive pedigrees, experience, and a billion or so quid to spend on players. Ten Hag himself, coached with success at Bayern Munich, Utrecht, and Ajax and was once described by Pep Guardiola as the ideal candidate to succeed him at Manchester City, before the Dutchman’s move to Old Trafford.
Has Old Trafford become the Bermuda Triangle of managerial talent, where coaching reputations inexplicably disappear? It would seem strange that each manager in the 10 years since Alex Ferguson’s departure should have the same weakness when it comes to imparting their tactics to the players.
Or maybe United’s setup should examine the one constant across those 10 years — the players.
After the glory days of the 70s and 80s for Liverpool, things started to fall apart for the Merseysiders, where some players came to the club and presumed they had made it simply by pulling on the shirt. They forgot that regardless of talent they needed to work if they were to claim silverware. It took a two relatively barren decades before Liverpool got the type players that comprehended, that just being in one of the most successful clubs in the league does not guarantee success.
Barring a victory in the FA Cup final, it looks like Ten Hag will go the way of recent previous managers, but you have to ask will it have any effect until the majority of the playing staff move on as well?
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