Erik ten Hag must urgently address Manchester United’s structural problems, former star Rio Ferdinand has warned.
Now 26 games into the Premier League season, Manchester United have an embarrassingly poor goal difference of exactly 0.
Arsenal by comparison have a goal difference of +39, scoring 26 more goals, and conceding 13 fewer.
United’s lack of goals is poor, but the defensive problems are just as worrying, with the team conceding two more than Everton this season.
Per FBRef, Manchester United have faced the joint highest number of shots this season in the Premier League, with 414 in total.
Only Sheffield United (443) and Luton Town (426) have faced more shots, while by comparison, Manchester City have only faced 208, Arsenal 217, Aston Villa 276 and Liverpool 291.
This quite clearly speaks to what we see every week, a total lack of control in matches, which sees United regularly put under pressure.
Rio Ferdinand shocked by figures
Former Manchester United centre-back Rio Ferdinand was informed of the figures relating to how open Erik ten Hag’s side has been this season.
He told Five: “Wow. There has got to be a meeting about them things. There has got to be an immediate meeting to sort that.”
He added that he still does not know how Erik ten Hag really wants to play, commenting: “Man United just don’t have a style of play at the moment where you go ‘that is them’. Look at the best teams, you know how they play.”
Ferdinand recounts experience of similar issue
Ferdinand recounted a problem he recalls from the 2011/12 season where his United side had a spell which Sir Alex Ferguson felt the need to hold a meeting over.
He explained: “The season we beat Arsenal 8-2, I remember a meeting Sir Alex Ferguson called, I think we were averaging 16 or 19 shots a game at that point, chances against us, shots, the manager said ‘this can’t happen no more’.
“At that time he allowed Rene Meulensteen to do all the coaching, he was pushing a more expansive [style] and we were open as a team, and that’s what we were seeing, we were winning games 4-2, 8-2, 3-1, conceding goals because there were so many chances for the opposition. The manager just tightened up the tactics, and put that to bed.”
Asked for specifics about how United went about this, Ferdinand insisted it started with simple tactical changes.
He said: “We were like everyone forward, me and Vida at the back, you might have had Carrick screening the front and everyone go and score goals, and that doesn’t, that don’t do it.
“[It was] basic things like, if you are going to go forward on the right hand side, your left-back comes inside to make it three at the back.
“Sustaining attacks, don’t allow it to become a basketball game. Get your foot on the ball and drain the life out of these teams, don’t make it ‘we attack, you attack.'”
What was encouraging about the spell Ferdinand recalls was that Ferguson had the foresight to fix this quickly and was able to do so.
Erik ten Hag’s United have been seeing this all season long, and either the manager and coaching staff cannot see the issue, or have simply been unable to do so, and it’s unclear which of those two is most concerning.
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