Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United aren’t showing any signs of turning it around and perhaps most worryingly, keep dropping points the same way.
The draw at FC Porto, while appreciated under the circumstances of going down to ten men after another Bruno Fernandes red card, leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
That is because in true “Manchester United in Europe under Erik ten Hag” fashion, they fumbled a healthy lead to collapse.
United remain stuck at three wins in all competitions from ten games, and with a buoyant Aston Villa up next, it is more likely than not that it becomes three in 11.
Ten Hag hasn’t helped himself, with his comments or his tactical choices, but in perhaps a cruel twist of irony, his biggest untouchable at Old Trafford is accelerating the downfall.
An ironic fate
Since arriving at Man United, Ten Hag has quickly identified some core parts of the team, whether those he inherited or those he bought.
Players like Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, and Lisandro Martinez are clearly a step above the rest when it comes to squad hierarchy.
They are players who will play if fit, regardless of form, and any time they are dropped, it creates a huge stir in the media, as the Rashford rotation call earlier in the season proved.
Naturally, Ten Hag expects the most from these players, and more often than not, they have delivered too, hence this position.
However, in an ironic twist of fate, just when Ten Hag needs the biggest untouchable of his team to step up and save the squad and the manager, he’s dropping clangers.
Bruno Fernandes got his second consecutive red card vs FC Porto after flirting with one throughout the game.
This time, it was two yellow cards for high-footed challenges that had him seeing red and the decision was more justified than it was on the weekend.
Once again, United looked better with Fernandes out of the side, even with ten men, because the Portuguese is going through the worst form of his United spell when Ten Hag needs him the most.
What next with Bruno Fernandes?
One thing is for certain, despite struggling, Fernandes can always be relied upon to not go into hiding and keep trying stuff.
However, that is actually working against him right now because Ten Hag won’t drop him, the team continues carrying a struggling passenger, and the balance is off due to it.
Expect him to start vs Villa again after his suspension in the league got rescinded because playing out of a rut is the only way Fernandes knows.
Perhaps an intervention from Ten Hag is needed and a Zirkzee-Hojlund partnership can be explored but even the manager has shown in the past that he considers Fernandes’ ability to conjure magic out of nothing too valuable to lose.
That would be more palatable in a functional system where the team creates chances regardless of personnel.
In this setup, Fernandes can sometimes look like the system itself. He’s the engine and he’s failing. No wonder the machine looks rotten.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
