Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images
Manchester United has long been known for great television. But where they were the Sopranos under Alex Ferguson - aggressive, full of attitude and surprisingly sensitive - in the post-Fergie Wilderness Years T.M they are Casualty: catastrophe is inevitable, so the fun comes in predicting its bizarre specificity. Could André Onana befriend a murderous marmoset while searching for a cross, or will Harry Maguire crumble under the weight of his own property portfolio? No! Wrong again! It's Aaron Wan-Bissaka, distracted by fresh air and tripping over Luke Shaw's cough to score an own goal with his tongue! Football as light entertainment on a Saturday night, damn hell.
As such and despite some encouraging Anfield moxies, Erik ten Hag is under pressure. But before we dismiss him as out of his depth - and that may be true - it's worth assessing whether United's predicament is really his fault.
Because absent owners made bad decisions for the wrong reasons, Ten Hag inherited a team lacking quality and mentality, but which was rewarded as champions. To that burden has been added the distraction of the takeover, and serious leadership would have absorbed, not exacerbated, the stress of "the Mason Greenwood situation," later exacerbated by "the Antony situation."
Related: Erik ten Hag: from Ming the Merciless to circling the Old Trafford drain | Jonathan Wilson
Given that neither Pep Guardiola nor Jürgen Klopp achieved immediate success in England and neither inherited such a multi-faceted mess, it is fair that Ten Hag - director of football and chief scout as well as manager - is taking the time to tackle a uniquely impossible job in which he has been placed, to master. to fail.
Although their own advisor advised the Glazers that the team needed 'open heart surgery', the operation was hampered by their continued plundering and the football literacy of the bean counters that made this possible. As a result, Maguire and Scott McTominay know that Ten Hag wanted them replaced, while Wout Weghorst, Sofyan Amrabat, Jonny Evans and even Christian Eriksen arrived at United not because they were good enough, but because they were free enough.
The story continues
Ten Hag has also spent a lot of money on players he likes, which worked quite well last season: Lisandro Martínez was magnificent, Tyrell Malacia was useful and Casemiro was worth his contract as a loss leader. The best player available, knowing that the right player, Kobbie Mainoo, would do so soon. be ready to replace it. However, Antony, although always ready to receive the ball and deprived of decent full-back support, looks like a mistake - ostensibly Ten Hag's, but a competent structure would certainly have protected the manager from himself.
It's too early to evaluate more recent activity, but while Mason Mount is a good player, United's midfield needed a physical box-to-boxer who could take possession under pressure, not an inferior Bruno Fernandes. Rasmus Højlund, on the other hand, exactly the type of player the team needs, is not yet the player the team needs; Ten Hag was not granted an alternative.
However, he was allowed to sign a goalkeeper other than the 'masterful' Onana, whose nervous start is vaguely understandable, but with errors that display a rambunctious, shambolic style in which it is difficult to believe. And as confidence has ebbed, his playing ability has disappeared - although this also reflects the rotating cast of shortcomings ahead of him thanks to United's appalling injury list.
Whether Ten Hag is responsible for that, who knows. But the proliferation of non-contact skills raises questions, and although a ridiculous pre-season motivated by money rather than football was forced upon him, he aggravated the situation by sharing playing time with the squad, leaving his mainstays unfit when it season started. no new partnerships or style brewing.
United's injuries have come at a particularly sensitive point in the team's development, halting planned progression. Højlund arrived hurt, as he did in overtaking and settling in, while confused teammates pondered this strange new centre-forward; Mainoo, his main role in the system, is to acclimatize after injury; of his potential mentors, Casemiro, Eriksen and Mount are injured, and Amrabat arrived injured after missing pre-season; Onana wants to build from the back, but the absence of Martínez, Mainoo and Shaw have made that impossible.
Lately, critics have argued that it is not clear what Ten Hag wants from his team, but seventeen months of appearances, press conferences and interviews have said enough. What's less obvious is whether his players can do what he asks of them, and whether what he asks of them is what they should do.
Ten Hag likes to dominate territory and ball, but chooses McTominay if he already has Fernandes; he wants to defend high, but studiously ignored Raphaël Varane, his only fit centre-back, who can run and is good; And far too often the midfield runs empty or an underlapping full-back wastes possession, leaving inverted forwards stuck on the touchline and a striker draining the youth from his soul.
The players bear a great responsibility for this. Through their inaction and inaccuracy they have imposed upon themselves a profound collective PTSD, with the nous so woefully absent from the pitch reigning supreme when it comes to managerial survival. The Guardian understands that a recent signing was extremely unimpressed by the mentality of some in the dressing room and perhaps that is infectious because when United met Real Madrid in pre-season, Carlo Ancelotti patted arch-professional Casemiro's stomach in tribute how magnificent he was. he had been summery.
Just as it is easy to exonerate Ten Hag - his players are responsible for their own professionalism - so it is to question him: it is his job to inspire them. Last season, an aggressive approach helped compensate for the lack of charisma, but responding to adversity with reactivity. After previously telling his team that this was possible, he now tacitly advises them that this is not possible.
So United have kept themselves afloat through narrow victories that, achieved through inspiration and sweat rather than good play, failed to fool confident players prone to doubt. And because the squads have been safe, focused on getting results rather than recruiting the team, there is little sense of building momentum or a nascent identity.
Ten Hag's conservatism has led to what philosophers now call the McTominay paradox, whereby the person who does the most to help the collective is also the one who does the most to hinder the collective. Despite his excellent finishing, McTominay is not up to the required standard and it is impossible to control the midfield with him alongside Fernandes; As a result of his presence, Ten Hag's "genius of the last pass" is too deep and too far away from the suffering Højlund. Fernandes isn't alone either, given United's unforgivable tally of eighteen goals in seventeen league games.
The solution is simple and inevitable because Mainoo can no longer be held back - it is no coincidence that with Fernandes suspended, a different midfield balance has helped United keep Liverpool out - and Casemiro will soon return. Ten Hag must therefore be courageous and break with the failures of the past by no longer satisfying those responsible for them. He needs to think about whether what he's asking for needs to be modified to better suit his situation, and then he needs to commit to whatever he decides. And since Varane has regained his place, Martínez's return is imminent and the midweeks are now free for coaching, things should get better - but then that guy from Casualty should could have played badminton without impaling his neck on his racket...
