by Manchester United has long been known for being great on television. But where, under Alex Ferguson, were the Sopranos – aggressive, full of attitude and surprisingly sensitive – in the years after Fergie Wilderness?M.T. are Casualty: Catastrophe is inevitable, so the fun lies in predicting its outlandish specificity. Will André Onana befriend a killer marmoset as he seeks to catch a cross, or will Harry Maguire collapse under the weight of his own property portfolio? No! Wrong again! It’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka, distracted by fresh air and tripping over Luke Shaw’s cough to score an own goal with his tongue! Football as Saturday night light entertainment, damn hell.
As such, and despite some encouraging encouragement at Anfield, Erik ten Hag is under pressure. But before you write him off as out of his depth (which he may be), it’s worth assessing whether United’s situation is really his fault. Thanks to absent owners making bad decisions for the wrong reasons, Ten Hag inherited a team lacking in quality and mentality, but rewarded as champions. Added to that burden is the distraction of acquisitions, while serious leadership would have absorbed, not aggravated, the stress of “the Mason Greenwood situation,” later compounded by “the Antony situation.”
Related: Erik ten Hag: from Ming the Merciless to go around the Old Trafford drain | jonathan wilson
Given that neither Pep Guardiola nor Jürgen Klopp enjoyed immediate success in England and neither inherited such a multifaceted disaster, it is only fair that Ten Hag, director of football and chief scout as well as coach, is given time to master a job exceptionally impossible in the one he is destined for. until failure.
Although the Glazers were warned by their own advisor that the team needed an “open heart operation,” the surgery has been hampered by the continued looting and football illiteracy of the accountants who facilitate it. Consequently, Maguire and Scott McTominay know that Ten Hag wanted them replaced, while Wout Weghorst, Sofyan Amrabat, Jonny Evans and even Christian Eriksen came to United not because they were good enough, but because they were free enough.
Ten Hag has also spent a lot on players he likes, which worked out quite well last season: Lisandro Martínez was superb, Tyrell Malacia was useful, and Casemiro was worth his contract as the loss leader; the best player available knowing that the right player, Kobbie Mainoo, would soon follow. be ready to replace it. Antony, however, although always ready to receive the ball and lacking decent support on the side, seems like a mistake, apparently from Ten Hag, but a competent structure would surely have protected the coach from himself.
It’s too early to assess the latest activity, but while Mason Mount is a good player, United’s midfield needed a physical boxer capable of taking possession under pressure, not a less good Bruno Fernandes. Rasmus Højlund, on the other hand, exactly the type of player the team needs, he is still not the player the team needs; Ten Hag has not been allowed an alternative.
However, he was allowed to sign a goalkeeper other than the “masterful” Onana, whose nervous start is vaguely understandable, but with errors that manifest an impetuous and disheveled style that is hard to believe. And as confidence has eroded, his play has faded, although this also reflects the rotating cast of deficiencies in front of him thanks to United’s horrendous injury list. If Ten Hag is responsible for that, who knows? But the proliferation of non-contact skills raises questions, and although he was given a ridiculous pre-season motivated more by money than football, he aggravated the situation by sharing playing time with the team, leaving his pillars unfit when he started. the campaign with There are no new associations or brewing styles.
United’s injuries have come at a particularly sensitive point in the team’s development, aborting the planned progression. Højlund arrived injured, so he’s catching up and settling in while his bewildered teammates ponder this strange new species of centre-forward; Mainoo, his most important role in the system, is to acclimatize after an injury; Of his possible caregivers, Casemiro, Eriksen and Mount are not fit, and Amrabat arrived injured after missing the preseason; Onana wants to build from the back, but the absences of Martínez, Mainoo and Shaw have made this impossible.
Recently, critics have argued that what Ten Hag wants from his team is unclear, but 17 months of performances, press conferences and interviews have spoken volumes. What is less obvious is whether his players can do what he asks them to do and whether what he asks them to do is what they should do. Ten Hag likes to dominate the territory and the ball, but he chooses McTominay when he already has Fernandes; He wants to defend high but assiduously ignores Raphaël Varane, his only fit centre-back who can run and is good; and all too often, the midfield empties or a full-back squanders possession, leaving inverted attackers loitering on the touchline and a forward taking the youth out of his soul.
The players have a great responsibility in this. Through their laxity and inaccuracy they have inflicted upon themselves a profound collective PTSD, the nous so sadly absent in the supreme field when it comes to surviving the trainers. The Guardian understands that one recent signing was not at all impressed by the mentality of some in the dressing room and perhaps it is contagious, because when United faced Real Madrid in pre-season, Carlo Ancelotti patted arch-pro Casemiro on the belly to honor what a magnificent summer he had had.
Just as it’s easy to exonerate Ten Hag (his players are responsible for their own professionalism), it’s also easy to question him: his job is to inspire them. Last season, an aggressive approach helped make up for a lack of charisma, but by responding to adversity with reactivity, having told his team they could, he now tacitly warns them that they can’t.
So United have stayed afloat through narrow victories that, achieved through inspiration and perspiration rather than sustained good play, could not deceive players prone to doubt. And because the selections have been safe, results-oriented rather than team-driven, there is little sense of building momentum or a burgeoning identity.
Ten Hag’s conservatism has created what philosophers now call McTominay’s Paradox, according to which the person who does the most to help the collective is also the person who does the most to hinder it. Despite his excellent finishing, McTominay does not have the required level and it is impossible to control the midfield with him alongside Fernandes; As a consequence of his presence, Ten Hag’s “genius of the last pass” is too deep and too far away from Højlund, who is suffering. Fernandes is not alone either, given United’s unforgivable tally of 18 goals in 17 league games.
The solution is easy and inevitable because Mainoo can no longer be retained (it is no coincidence that with Fernandes suspended, a different balance in midfield saw United keep Liverpool out) and Casemiro will soon return. So Ten Hag must be brave and break with the failures of the past by stopping pleasing those responsible for them. He should reflect on whether it is necessary to modify what he is asking to better suit his situation, and then he should commit to whatever he decides. And since Varane has regained his position, Martínez’s return is imminent and midweeks are now free to train, things ought improve, but then that guy from Casualty ought having been able to play badminton without impaling his neck on the racket…
