Old Trafford was largely empty for the final exchanges of Sunday’s match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. The game was long settled before the full time whistle and so many of the home supporters felt they’d seen enough. This is a feeling they have grown accustomed to with Erik ten Hag as United manager.
Ten Hag had to fight to keep his job over the summer. Manchester United finished a lowly eighth in the Premier League table, but victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final hinted at the team’s potential. Nonetheless, ten Hag was made to wait weeks as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS assessed other candidates.
Ultimately, ten Hag was given another opportunity to prove himself, but Manchester United’s dreadful start to the season shows INEOS made the wrong call. Ten Hag should have been replaced in the summer. For all their big talk since entering the club earlier this year, the new leadership botched the biggest decision they have had to make so far.
On the pitch, Manchester United is making the same old mistakes. Ten Hag’s team has no clear identity or structure. At times, United wants to play a chaotic style of play that opens up space and moves from back to front quickly. At other times, it attempts to play a possession-orientated game. It does neither well.
In the past, ten Hag has pointed at the number of injuries to explain Manchester United’s poor performances. It’s certainly true that the Old Trafford team was decimated by injuries for much of last season. Now, though, those injuries have cleared. Ten Hag was able to start a full-strength team in the 3-0 loss to Tottenham.
More than once, ten Hag as pointed to the two trophies Manchester United has won during his time in charge. The reality of modern soccer, however, is that success and failure is judged on league performance and United is grossly underperforming. Ten Hag is running out of excuses to explain away his team’s failures.
INEOS has stated its aim to return Manchester United to the top of English and European soccer, but the club is a long way from that level right now. Ten Hag certainly isn’t the only issue that needs resolving at Old Trafford. There are deep-rooted problems that have been evident for years. Ten Hag, however, might be the easiest issue to solve.