“We are unstoppable”: Erik ten Hag’s stubbornness is Manchester United’s biggest problem – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United lost yet another game yesterday against a very poor Chelsea side, having had the lead nine minutes into injury time.

Yesterday we covered post-match comments made by manager Erik ten Hag to TNT Sports, in which he claimed United “dominated the game” and “were brilliant.”

It is certainly not what United fans saw.

Whilst it is true that once again, injuries to two centre backs and two soft penalties meant luck was not on United’s side, nonetheless, the match was another example of a performance lacking in strategy, tactics, organisation and unity.

One decision Ten Hag made was to drop Marcus Rashford for Antony, who himself has had a season dogged by poor form and off-pitch distractions.

It is true that the Brazilian was by no means the worst player on the pitch, but it seemed curious that the manager spent a big chunk of his post-match press conference singing his praises, particularly since he was responsible for conceding an early penalty with a clumsy challenge in the area.

“All our players were a danger, Garnacho, Antony, he was very good. I said it before, in the last weeks, he’s progressing,” Ten Hag said.

“You see it in training, you see it when he come on against Liverpool, also against Brentford, he’s stepping up, he’s understanding the message, he’s progressing, so we’re pleased with that.”

There seems to be a favouritism regarding Antony that Jadon Sancho alluded to when he had his famous falling out with Ten Hag. Meanwhile, one of the real heroes against Liverpool, Amad Diallo, once again sat on the bench for the whole 100 minutes, while another, Mason Mount, was only introduced late in the game.

Another obsession that the Dutchman has is that United are a “transition” team, basing the play on swift counter-attacks. At the start of this season, he inexplicably abandoned the more possession-based formula that brought so much success last season to pursue this fantasy.

Again on this, at the post-match presser (via Hayters TV), his comments seemed delusional.

“It’s our strength how we score from counters,” he said.

“We can be such a massive threat, we have seen today again an example of how with tempo we can beat our opponents.

“We are unstoppable.”

We are not unstoppable, Erik. We have been stopped more times this season than in virtually any other in the club’s history.

Aside from the questionable decision to do a complete 180 on last season’s system, the transition tactic requires United to soak up pressure, which is madness when the defence has to be changed every week, where a new goalkeeper had to settle in, and when key players such as Casemiro are built for possession-based football and not at all suited to a transitional style.

It is madness to pursue this style when your best weapon in terms of pace, Marcus Rashford, is off form and when you have only one fit centre forward to do the amount of running required for it for most of the season.

In fact, one of Ten Hag’s excuses for the poor season has been the number of injuries, but the tactics he is employing require massive physical endurance and stamina and the exhaustion caused by that, in itself, could have been a major factor in the number of injuries sustained.

Whatever happens from now on with Ten Hag and his management of Manchester United, one thing is clear from this season: he is an incredibly stubborn man. He will stick to something doggedly if he believes it is right despite all evidence to the contrary.

Sometimes, that can be a great asset, but sometimes, it can be your undoing.

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