The list is long and the competition is strong, but Erik ten Hag’s nadir of the worst decision he has made this season came against FC Porto in the Europa League.
Manchester United again surrendered a comfortable two-goal lead to collapse to a losing position, from which they salvaged a draw which has Erik ten Hag talking about spirit again.
The players let themselves down again, as is becoming customary in moments when the tide turns against them.
However, they are clearly not being helped by Ten Hag’s decisions before, during, and after the game.
The tone-deaf comments on the state of affairs at Old Trafford extinguish any backing fans might have for the manager, and his tactical structure is leaving a lot to be desired.
It is, perhaps, remarkable that he managed to top off all those bad decisions with the worst of them all vs FC Porto.
Erik ten Hag’s shock call
Ten Hag can no longer point to injuries being a mitigating factor for poor results as he did, understandably, during last season.
In fact, he has had effectively the full quota of players available to him for the last few weeks outside of a natural left-back.
Concerningly, United’s performances have declined the more settled the team has looked, or in tune with what Ten Hag would consider his ideal XI.
The game against Tottenham was a stark example of this as the whole XI was made of Ten Hag favourites who would start if fit.
However, a limp performance there prompted some changes which was understandable but just one thing was working extremely well, Ten Hag intervened to take the sting out of it.
When Marcus Rashford‘s number went up at half-time, it was a reasonable, if scary assumption that he had picked up a knock.
After all, why would the manager take off his most threatening player with the team level and needing a win at all costs?
For rotation, apparently, and because Rashford didn’t work hard enough in defence in the first half, going by Ten Hag’s comments.
He said: “We have to rotate. Garnacho we did not start him, so we need players to be fresh. Garnacho was my best player on Sunday by far. Over the left side, we didn’t defend well and Marcus also plays a part in this. But it was about Garnacho and nothing against Rashy.”
The maddening inconsistency
It sums up Ten Hag’s inconsistency in selection calls when this exact lack of work ethic from Rashford was brought up by fans, he backed the player and he continued to start, often to the detriment of the team.
In the first half here, Rashford actually looked energised and did well in both phases, with his electric contribution in attack alone enough to save him from a sub.
Therefore, Ten Hag giving the defensive effort as one of the reasons to take him off makes little to no sense.
Even worse was the fact that it was done at half-time. Considering rotation is a perfectly valid reason, especially with Aston Villa on October 6, it is worth noting that Rashford hasn’t played 90 minutes in the last five games.
Giving him 60 here and doing a usual sub at the hour mark makes so much more sense. Even if it was pre-planned, so good was the player that taking him off screams a lack of flexibility and extreme rigidity.
To be fair to Garnacho, he was United’s best threat in the second half which was largely putrid, but that just hammers home the point that United could have had two dangerous wingers on the pitch instead of one.
Ten Hag has made many bad decisions at Old Trafford and Rashford half time sub for anything outside of injury was set to be one.
His subsequent reasoning behind it has launched it to the top of the list.
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