Erik ten Hag is to blame for Man United’s malaise and players returning from injury will not fix things – Man United News And Transfer News

4

There was an air of optimism around Old Trafford on Sunday before Manchester United’s game against Tottenham Hotspur. The new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe was set to be in attendance while quite a few big-name players were back on the bench, having returned from long-term injuries.

With Ange Postecoglou’s men missing key players including their star striker and their first-choice midfielders, the game was expected to be a chance for Erik ten Hag to pick up a statement win and announce their intent to fight for a Champions League spot in the second half of the season.

Two goals arrived in the first half courtesy of new signing Rasmus Hojlund, who grabbed only his second Premier League goal of the season, and Marcus Rashford, who showed signs of slowly returning to the form he had exhibited throughout the previous campaign.

But what followed throughout the rest of the game and especially in the second half will serve as a timely warning for the INEOS chairman as to the size of the task he has just taken on.

Strange tactics all season

Many will point to the fact that United were also weakened by injuries but missing personnel was never the issue. It was the distinct lack of anything remotely resembling a coherent structure and a style of play that would concern supporters against a team who controlled proceedings with ease as the hosts just gave up trying to keep the ball.

This has pretty much been the story of the current term — try and play high-transition poker and hope someone can score from the resultant chance. And in the process, let go of control in the middle of the pitch. United’s shape and pressing structure are ridiculously easy to play through.

Hark your mind back to the opening game of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Matheus Cunha and Matheus Nunes countered at will through the middle of the pitch with Casemiro struggling to contain the opposition on his own.

Both Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes almost played like two No 10s, and there was hardly any coordination in the middle. The Red Devils were lucky to escape with all three points on that occasion but have obviously been found out by the better teams over the course of the current campaign. The likes of Thomas Tuchel, the Bayern Munich boss even pointed out the flaws of utilising such a system.

Poor in set-pieces! What does the team do in training?

On Sunday, it was sometimes Eriksen who was the deepest, and on a few occasions, it was young Kobbie Mainoo and the general shape of the squad was such almost everyone was deep in the opposition half, trying to nick the ball high without any pattern to the pressing and thus, it was easy for the North London side to play out.

Maybe, with so many key players out, the out-of-possession tactics are not on point currently. But the team struggled to play out from the back time and again and Andre Onana, brought in for his assured passing, always looks to launch it long instead of the short pass due to his players treating the ball like it is made of lava! United’s players hardly held on to the ball for more than five seconds at a time.

The less said about set-pieces the better. Spurs threatened time and again from their deliveries and Ryan Mason is in charge of dead-ball coaching at the club. United have Eric Ramsay, widely regarded as one of the best young coaches in England, and every other day reports are linking him with a management offer but the former Chelsea coach keeps on staying. Not one corner found its mark for United while almost all corners yielded a goalscoring chance for Tottenham. How is this allowed to happen time and again?

Injured players returning will not solve issues

United have conceded the second-most goals from set-pieces this season. What exactly does the team do in training the entire week? Players run, yes we see the videos put out by the club on social media but what else? There is a distinct lack of coaching currently and the manager is to blame for that because he is the one harping on about standards all the time. Surely this is not the United standard!

A chaotic structure — both on and off the ball and Ten Hag has insisted it will clear up once all his injured players start coming back. The main players he is talking about are Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez. Both were present for the opening set of fixtures before suffering long-term injuries. The scenes were not much different as compared to what was seen on Sunday.

Without his key players, Postecoglou has got his team playing the way he wants in his very first season. There are other examples like Eddie Howe managing with an injury-stricken squad but still getting his team to play in the way he wants. The same goes for Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton. Sure, United are ahead of both teams but the patterns of play are clearly visible when the two teams play.

And after more than one-and-a-half years, the Dutch manager wants people to believe that this is acceptable. A team that looked like it was building towards something special last year, suddenly looks like a bus without any wheels and the driver seems to have given up trying to fix this.

INEOS need to decide soon

The manager needs to go back to last season’s style or change things around but so far, he has proven to be way too obstinate to change. His press conferences are starting to sound delusional, like the latter part of Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho’s reigns. The football is boring and time is running out to salvage the season.

Surely, United’s squad is more talented than the teams already mentioned. But it is just not clicking and the players are certainly not devoid of blame and more than a few overpaid prima donnas need to be shown their place. But Ten Hag is making things hard for himself.

Why did Ten Hag suddenly change his style into a transitional one in his second season is a huge question. United do possess a lot of pace up front and counter-attacking is one of their strengths as seen from numerous displays under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. But it was thought that the former Ajax coach was brought in as we did not want to remain only a counter-attacking team. Instead, the blueprint was to keep hold of the ball and create.

But Ten Hag certainly looks like he has given up on that ideal this season and nothing is expected to change even if all the players are back and the United manager has a full-strength team to choose from. Ratcliffe needs to take a good hard look at what he has inherited.

He revealed before the Spurs game that the United investment was the best decision he has ever taken and he is a boyhood fan of the club. This is not the club he fell in love with and a lot needs to change. Maybe starting with the manager.