Erik ten Hag remains committed to his Manchester United project despite jittery displays but some sections are starting to lose faith and a key Jose Mourinho ally can be added to the list.
The noise around Erik ten Hag‘s future is already at fever pitch after the club went into the international break on the back of a 0-3 home defeat to Liverpool.
Even post-game, Ten Hag batted back suggestions that his Man United project has hit a ceiling, reasserting the two trophies he has won.
Ten Hag is already at war with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over that assertion, and now, Rui Faria, Jose Mourinho’s former right-hand man and assistant coach during that time at Old Trafford, has piled on it.
Rui Faria calls out Erik ten Hag
After setting up the team in a chaotic structure for the whole of last season, the team seemed to have stumbled upon a winning formula.
The false 9/split striker system led them to victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final last season and encouraging signs continued in the subsequent games this season.
However, Mason Mount’s injury put rest to those plans and against Liverpool, problems that plagued the team last season seemed to reappear.
Casemiro was left on an island and individual mistakes condemned them to a shameful defeat.
Rui Faria, who was Mourinho’s assistant for most of his career, has now questioned Ten Hag’s assertion of “sticking to the plan” in a brutal and straightforward criticism.
He said: “What does ‘sticking to the plan’ mean? Analysing Manchester United’s matches, it’s hard to identify a plan because I believe a plan means the team has a strategy for the match.
“A team’s strategy is based on its playing identity, and there is no such identity to be found in those matches. Without an identity there is no plan or strategy- just a ‘let’s see what happens in the match!'”.
Unpacking Faria’s words
Not having an identity or a clear playing philosophy is a stick Ten Hag has been beaten a lot with during his tenure at Old Trafford.
Sometimes rightly so, since he has been in the job for more than three years now and despite multiple transfer windows, has continued to preach patience.
However, the circumstances continuously changing above him is a mitigation factor that sometimes gets lost in the noisy debates.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said himself that the manager was overstretched until last season and only with the arrival of a new executive structure have his responsibilities been streamlined.
This is effectively season one for Ten Hag and with five new players to acclimatise and countless departures, he has probably earned some respite.
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Nicky Butt recently said it would be “madness” to sack Ten Hag effectively four games into a contract extension which is the logical view.
Of course, things will change if the free fall continues but for now, it is worth putting a brake on the “no plan and identity” discourse until at least 10-15 more games.
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