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What Erik ten Hag is doing wrong at Manchester United

What Erik ten Hag is doing wrong at Manchester United - REUTERS
What Erik ten Hag is doing wrong at Manchester United - REUTERS

Manchester United’s failure this summer from top to bottom has left them in exactly that position - 20th and last in the Premier League table after two rounds of fixtures.

In what has been their worst start to a season by a United manager for more than 100 years, Saturday’s 4-0 embarrassment at the hands of Brentford coupled with a 2-1 home defeat on the opening weekend against Brighton has left the club’s loyal supporters fearing their botched transfer strategy will cost them yet again.

Ten Hag has not had long to get his feet under the table, although unlike most summer arrivals he has had the best part of four months to assess and adapt this side after agreeing to take over the reins before the end of the 2021-22 campaign.

It’s for that reason, plus the decisions that have been made up to this point, that the Dutch manager cannot consider himself exempt from criticism either, having blamed the weekend’s thrashing on his players failing to listen to his instructions.

Here are the things Ten Hag has got wrong so far in the early days of his Old Trafford tenure.

The Harry Maguire effect

One of Erik ten Hag’s first acts as Manchester United manager was to confirm that the England defender Harry Maguire would remain his club captain and, by implication, in his starting line-up.

The intention may have been noble - to offer one of many senior players whose confidence is rock bottom a timely shot in the arm.

But the announcement instantly made it impossible for Ten Hag not to select Maguire, for fear of an even bigger controversy and dent in the player’s confidence.

Two games is a small sample size but, it is fair to say, the gamble has back-fired. Maguire’s leadership - which came into question during last season’s debacle - is under even more of a question mark now and supporters, a handful of whom booed the player on tour, have clearly run out of patience.

There has been some poor transfer business conducted by United in the past decade. Pound for pound, the £80 million Maguire may be the worst of all.

Harry Maguire of Manchester United reacts after a goal during the Premier League match between Brentford FC and Manchester United at Brentford - GETTY IMAGES
Harry Maguire of Manchester United reacts after a goal during the Premier League match between Brentford FC and Manchester United at Brentford - GETTY IMAGES

The goalkeeper conundrum

David de Gea was excellent for much of last season which meant few eyebrows were raised when Ten Hag allowed Dean Henderson to leave this summer for newly-promoted Nottingham Forest.

It sums up the luck Ten Hag is enjoying - or, rather, not - that fewer than 24 hours after De Gea’s horror show at Brentford, his former deputy was a penalty-saving hero in Forest’s win over West Ham.

De Gea, meanwhile, has looked a shadow of his former self although, to his credit, had the courage to face the media after the Brentford fiasco.

It would have been a wildly bold decision for Ten Hag to have allowed De Gea to leave this summer and back Henderson, although a case could have been made, based on age and career trajectory.

But Ten Hag knew he wanted United to play a style which saw them play out from the back and it has taken De Gea two games to show he cannot do that. Which brings us on to …

Tactics

April 21 - 116 days ago - was the date of Ten Hag’s appointment although the performance at Brentford looked like he had been in control for less than 116 hours.

In the opening defeat against Brighton, new signing Christian Eriksen started as a number nine and played the last half hour as a defensive midfielder.

Christian Eriksen (14) was frequently United's deepest midfielder at Brentford. Average positions, attacking from right to lef:

Manchester United vs Brentford average positions - OPTA
Manchester United vs Brentford average positions - OPTA

There was another, out-of-position midfield role for Eriksen at Brentford although the Dane was far from the only United player who seemed unable to fit into the system of a coach who has been in charge of them from the very first day of pre-season.

The embarrassment over United’s attempts to play out the back at Brentford were not the hallmark of a manager who built his reputation in Holland as a tactical savant.

The Ronaldo circus

Ten Hag could not be blamed for the behaviour of an iconic player whom he inherited and there is a large question mark over whether United’s refusal to allow Cristiano Ronaldo to leave comes from the manager or those above him.

But, ultimately, Ten Hag will be held responsible for integrating Ronaldo back into his line-up - and finding a system in which he can play - or not.

With the issue still very much up in the air and few, if any, alternatives in the squad, the early signs of Ten Hag being able to make this work are not promising.

Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo (L) reacts after conceding their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Brentford and Manchester United - AFP
Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo (L) reacts after conceding their first goal during the English Premier League football match between Brentford and Manchester United - AFP

Transfer policy

Again, the lack of new signings is clearly the fault of the new “improved” recruitment department at Manchester United.

But the fact that the three new signings to date - Tyrell Malacia, Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez are clearly Ten Hag selections does not augur well.

Malacia was always supposed to be a left-back for the future but if there were not questions about the wisdom of signing a 5ft9in centre-half for the Premier League - however prodigious his jumping abilities may be - then there certainly are after Brentford.

The potential arrival of Adrien Rabiot from Juventus is so underwhelming that even United’s in-house television channel allowed a pundit, Lou Macari, to voice his surprise when his name was brought up.

Frenkie de Jong has, of course, been Ten Hag’s number one target this summer and he has been badly let down by a number of factors in that pursuit.

But based on what we have seen elsewhere, what sort of impact De Jong might have had - or might still have - on the United side is open to debate.

Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez in action with Brentford's Ivan Toney - Reuters
Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez in action with Brentford's Ivan Toney - Reuters

Hard man image

The modern game is a very different one to the age of the disciplinarian manager - an archetype of which Sir Alex Ferguson was the shining example.

There may well be question marks over the health benefits of making players run 13.8 kilometres in 32-degree heat on the day after a game in similar conditions - as Ten Hag reportedly did on Sunday.

But the punishment served as, precisely that, a punishment, rather than an attempt to make his squad fitter.

The move was well received by supporters who were, rightly, appalled by what they saw at Brentford, but it remains to be seen how well-paid and ego-driven modern footballers react to their taste of a punishment battalion.

It was all too often said last season that United players “quit” on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, making this a calculated power play by Ten Hag.

Yet the Dutchman is very much his own man, as he has shown already in his time with United, starting with his decision not to meet with Rangnick and then do without his contractually-agreed consultancy services.

However, the German’s doom-laden predictions of United needing “open-heart surgery” and 10 new players this summer look incredibly accurate at present and it may be a relief for Ten Hag that Rangnick is not around to say “I told you so.”


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