In hindsight, Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph might have been a fitting finale for Erik ten Hag.
Then again, that is the problem with hindsight. You don’t tend to realise the gravity of your mistake until it’s too late.
And if the Red Devils’ new bosses could turn back the clock, perhaps they would have opted to give the Dutchman the Louis van Gaal treatment after Ten Hag cooked up a recipe to stun bitter rivals Manchester City at Wembley.
Then again, Ineos’ decision to hand Erik ten Hag fresh terms – tellingly, extending his deal by 12 months rather than handing him a long-term contract – did make some degree of sense.
If the Manchester United boss could out-coach Pep Guardiola in a one-off game with silverware on the line, surely he could build on what was an impressive first season at Old Trafford with a proper structure in place behind the scenes and a crop of new first-teamers in his dressing room.
But as Ten Hag’s oh-so baffling side relapsed into to those bad old habits against both FC Twente and Tottenham Hotspur – Christian Eriksen even claimed the opposition ‘wanted it more’ than Man United as they collapsed at home in the Europa League – the former Ajax boss is rapidly running out of excuses to hide behind.
Manchester United stars have ‘issues’ with Erik ten Hag’s tactics
Ten Hag can no longer say this is not ‘his team’.
He cannot blame the injuries. Barring Luke Shaw, pretty much every first-team player was available for Spurs.
He can’t claim he has not been backed either. Ineos brought in Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Andreas Georgson, amongst others, to enhance his coaching staff while spending heavily on five new senior signings.
And, speaking on The Athletic’s Talk of the Devils podcast, United reporter Andy Mitten has provided a peak behind the curtain into an increasingly concerned dressing room.
This is not a classic case of players downing tools and giving up on the manager either. More a highly-talented squad fearing – with plenty of justification – that their abilities are being squandered by a tactical set-up which leaves Man United vulnerable against any opposition, from Spurs to Sheffield United.
“An hour after the FA Cup final win, I spoke to half a dozen of United players outside the dressing room and asked them about the manager,” Mitten explains. “The words weren’t being recorded.
“Not one said the manager should absolutely be sacked. And not one said he should absolutely stay. Yet, there were clear issues between players and manager about his style.
“One of them said; ‘You cannot have teams in the relegation zone like Sheffield United and Burnley coming to Old Trafford and carving us open’.”
United players reportedly expect Ten Hag to go
You can add Coventry City – a toenail offside call away from turning a 3-0 deficit into a remarkable 4-3 win – to that list.
Brighton, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace all beat Ten Hag’s team last season by an aggregate score of 11-1, while United also conceded 15 goals in a Champions League group containing Copenhagen and Galatasaray.
And, if that Tottenham debacle is anything to go by, this is an issue Ten Hag appears either unwilling or unable to fix.
This, for the first time in years, does not feel like a player issue. This is an excellent squad; deep, versatile, and stronger in most departments than United have seen in recent memory.
These days, the reason for this continued underperformance may sit on the doorstep of one man, rather than the result of any deep-rooted structural issues. A man who might be packing up his boxes and putting his house up for sale sooner rather than later.
Though the manager is expected to be given those trips to FC Porto and Aston Villa as he looks to turn the tide, The Mail reports that many in the Man United dressing room feel Ten Hag’s departure is only a matter of time.
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