Why would anyone want to manage Manchester United? A question I’ve asked myself a lot over the last 5-10 years. As far as elite club management goes, it’s as tough a gig as one could imagine. Many would argue that the obvious financial rewards and the huge cache of fronting an institution such as United would more than offset the stress of it all. But is it really worth it?
Erik ten Hag has been in the managers hot seat for approximately a year and a half now. It was widely agreed that the 22/23 season was a success for the Dutchman. Subsequently, expectations for 23/24 had perhaps been set higher than would have been the case had his first year not been as promising. Fast forward to November and most would agree that United are not where they expected…
The discourse, from online punters and amongst the media, has been unsurprisingly harsh.
Scapegoating/apportioning blame is a favourite pass time of most United fans on social media. And many journalists continue to make a healthy career out of not only reporting on but propagating disharmony at the club. No club generates interactions and clicks the way Manchester United do as we’ve always known.
Not to say that the club should not be criticised and the fan base not disappointed. Manchester United continue to fail spectacularly both on and off the pitch. The key word being ‘continue.’ Despite the entrenched failure over the last decade large swathes of the supporter base still seem to measure the current Utd team against trophied iterations of the past. The struggle to differentiate between Manchester Utd’s ‘heritage’ (to coin a phrase) and modern-day Manchester United is baffling.
Ten Hag has also made mistakes, especially in the last 2 months. Any manager trying to unravel the myriad of issues at Old Trafford would. The poor start this year had seen the pressure on him ramp up, but it’s easy to forget that his first season started almost as disastrously as this one. The turnaround then was laudable, and there are signs of something similar occurring this time around. As unfathomable as it may sound United are currently THE form team in the league in terms of points gained across the last 5 matches. The win over Everton on Sunday means United are 1 point ahead of where they were at the same stage last year, 6 points off leaders Arsenal, 5 points off the treble winners, and just 2 points off London media darlings Spurs – all of whom have allegedly had great seasons to date. No one can pretend that United’s performances have been anything but turgid in the main. Given the unmitigated number of issues that have landed on Ten Hags plate it would be ridiculous to expect any sort of progression with regards to a grand design. It’s been stoic & resilient, but it has kept the club within touching distance of the top 4 during a hideous period of misfortune.
United’s injury problems have bordered on unfathomable. The sheer weight of games played last year had clearly taken its toll on a thin squad even before the end of the previous season. Following that up with limited downtime in the summer and another pre-season clocking up air miles in far flung continents was quite frankly idiotic. Despite the arrivals of Mount, Hojlund, Onana and Amrabat, United’s squad remained limited from a depth of quality perspective and imbalanced in terms of age profile. Both risks have materialised in spectacular fashion, almost from the first game of the season. Even the most recent squad against Everton, with injuries supposedly starting to clear up, United were without Eriksen, Amad, Martinez, Malacia, Evans, Mount, Casemiro, Hojlund, Antony and Sancho. The latter two players have of course seen themselves omitted for non-injury related matters. Not to mention the Greenwood debacle, which (notwithstanding the moral implications) has deprived Ten Hag of a potentially game-changing talent. Team dynamics and form has naturally suffered with the constant chopping of changing in personnel. There have been few signs of the ‘automatisms’ that Ten Hag so often speaks of. It would appear that the longer term footballing blueprint has for now been put on the backburner.
Dramatic loss in player form has also hit hard. Two of United’s key performers from last season, Marcus Rashford and Casemiro have seen theirs fall off a cliff. Depending on where you stand on Rashford, he has either reverted to his mean or has temporarily dropped off from world class highs. The fact the jury is still out 9 years into his first team career at United is telling. Another Ten Hag would have hoped to rely on was Casemiro. An undoubted success last season, his performances before injury this season were utterly bizarre – defensively he’d become a complete liability yet at one point he was United’s stop scorer. Rumours of interest from Saudi are an opportunity United should be investigating, especially with the potential being shown by Kobbie Mainoo. It may be unfair to pinpoint only these two player as others have also flattered to deceive, but the drop in levels of the aforementioned have hit Utd more than most others.
Excuses I hear you say. One man’s excuse is another man’s reason, and it’s entirely valid to point out the fact that losing players through injury stymies performance. Man City with all their resources lost 3 out of 4 games whilst Rodri was out. Spurs have gone from unbeaten in 10 to losing 3 in a row. Newcastle’s Kieran Tripper almost got into a fight with a supporter post defeat at Bournemouth trying to defend their recent injury ravaged performances. All three clubs have been treated very sympathetically in the media compared to United.
With injuries (very slowly) clearing up, tiny shoots of recovery are starting to appear. A slightly settled (yet still unbalanced) XI is emerging. The revival of Harry Maguire and to a lesser extent Scott McTominay has been heartening. Lisandro Martinez, arguably Ten Hags’ most important player, is training on grass once more. Shaw’s reintroduction at Goodison Park was seamless. Wan Bissaka has provide some much-needed aggression at the back. Hojlund has shown great promise despite feeding off scraps. Garnacho is a superstar in the making. The January transfer window with the possible influx of cash from SJR may provide some scope for improvement to the squad. And, most excitedly for me, 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo returned from a pre-season injury to boss his 1st Premier league game, playing like a seasoned veteran in the process.
Where United finish by the end of season who knows. The upcoming run of fixtures may see them take a further hit or two in terms of their recovery. But knowing that United have maintained a semblance of competence during such a tumultuous period bodes well. A relatively small improvement in performance could realistically see them back amongst the champions league places very soon. As always with United it really is difficult to hold ones breath. They remain a complete basket case of a football club after all.
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Yeah, been a topsy-turvy Season without doubt.
Yet, despite everything, we’re only 6 points off the leaders. How mad is that? Especially as ETH lost the dressing-room some while ago, if you believe the scurrilous reports from some outlets. And where are those who said we should have employed Pochettino / Postecoglou as Manager?
Not looking so clever, are you?