At the beginning of the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season, many fans of Manchester United harbored hopes of the return to glory of their beloved team. The Dutchman Erik Ten Hag had finally “hacked” the system and brought the lost talisman that Old Trafford desired and merited. Before long, this fizzled out and gradually the Erik Ten Hag out movement grew loud and with each passing day, it has grown louder. It is one of the very divisive elements of the fanbase currently and providing enough fodder for the very lazy fanbase. I remain a fervent supporter of Erik Ten Hag and have struggled to find out what the Erik Ten Hag “out-ers” have off their sleeves.
One of the things I have heard repeated ad nauseam is the fact that he lacks in game management technique. He does not know how to kill a game. How can a team be three goals up after 70 minutes and end up almost losing the game as with the FA semifinals against Coventry? That has been the story of the last four games at least in recent memory. It’s “the Ides of March.” Remember the Brentford game? Manchester United scored at the 95th minute through Mason Mount and could not contain this as three minutes later, Brentford equalized and the game ended. Then came Chelsea where the team was down 2-0 and staged the dramatic come back and by the 66th minute were leading 3-2. Dalot gave away a penalty at the 96th minute and Chelsea equalized and at the 100th Palmer got the hattrick and the Red Devils were defeated.
One wonders what the coach is telling the lads in preparation for the next games? Doing the same thing over and over again is called madness. Lo and behold, with the Liverpool game the boys came from behind and were leading at the 66th minute through the classy goal from wonderkid Mainoo. At the 81st minute, Wan Bissaka gave away a penalty. Then came Bournemouth who outplayed Manchester United and only luck enabled them to take home a point. The FA cup semi final game left a sour taste in many mouths as many wondered what the heck?
Yet, I wonder why this is the coach’s problem? He is not on the pitch playing. The players lose such concentration and give up so easily. Having not played the game at any professional level and being just a noisy fan, I can only wonder why the blame is not on the players? I cannot fathom the fact that they have not been cautioned. What can the coach do or what should the coach do to avoid such monotonous repetition of the same error?
Some would readily point to the substitutions Ten Hag makes. The problem being referred to is that he is making late and wrong substitutions. Under Ole and Rangnick, one of the perennial complaints was late substitutions. Erik Tan Hag seemed to have corrected this last season when he made timely substitutions and with the right persons. That is how Garnacho burst into the scenes. Just think of the times this season he brought on Scot McTominay who made the difference by scoring goals. Garnacho who has become the enfant Cherie of many given his brilliance and goal scoring dexterity has also become the bete-noire of Ten Hag. So too is Mainoo. Their substitutions are being questioned. The three substitutions made by Coventry’s coach during the semi finals changed the game. Many question why ETH is constantly changing Garnacho and Mainoo? When the real person to be changed is Rashford? Why does Rashford continue to feature and even play 90 minutes when he is underperforming and underwhelming. Does the coach not see that the lad does not want to play. He had hit the lottery and does not need to prove anything anymore and so why not bench him?
This leads to one of Eric’s other problems namely that he seems to play favorites namely Rashford and McTominay. Some are of the opinion that Scot is not a good midfielder and playing more like a 9 than the 8 he is supposed to be or even the 6. For years now, Manchester United has been unable to solve its midfield conundrum. Games are lost or won in the midfield and it is unfortunately one of ManU’s greatest weaknesses. Brazilian technician Casemiro was a short-term solution to a long-term problem and that worked well last season. Of course, the Holy Book cautions that there is a time for every occupation under the sun: a time for excelling and a time for falling off. Manchester United is back to the pre-Ten Hag era with a very porous midfield. Thankfully the young lad, Mainoo has broken to the limelight (even though nobody seems to be crediting Ten Hag for that).
And one wonders why Ten has not been playing Mason Mount who was his first signing last Summer? Why did he buy him in the first place? This is exacerbated by Antony bought at such prohibitive price and who is yet to deliver. He is considered the greatest flop so far. Let’s be clear: there are hangovers from those outraged that Ten Hag let shot stopper De Gea to go and brought in Onana who cost the team the champions league. Remember the fortress built by the back five last season. It quickly fizzled away as injury dealt it a grievous blow. In two years, ETH has spent close to a quarter of million pounds buying players and they have not delivered. The return on that investment (ROI) is at best a trickle.
Little wonder then many have questioned what his style of play is? This is apparently the greatest criticism many have of Ten Hag. Manchester United’s games are painful to watch for they seemingly lack style and quality. Manchester United has been known to play counter acting football. They hit you on the break with those magic passes from Bruno to Rashford or to Garnacho. People have forgotten so soon that ETH won the admiration of Manchester United because of his possession style of play. Unfortunately, he has not been able to realize this project since he landed at Manchester because he has not been able to get together the team he wants. And this is an excuse of course and a lame one for that much. Yet it is a fact that style goes with certain cream of players. One will buy this argument when Eric Ten Hag has a full slate of his players. There is a lot of dead wood that needs to be gotten rid of for the team to return to its glory.
Someone claimed that the record injuries the team has sustained is because of Eric Ten Hag. While one class claimed that it was because he was overworking the players, others claimed it was because he did not prep the team well during preseason. Manchester United has been without a dependable team for more than half of this season. It is quite historic by any metrics. And as Rich Fay so eloquently stated: United have now suffered 61 separate instances of injury or illness that have caused a senior player to miss a competitive match this season, The numbers are damning. United haven’t had a recognised left-back in 27 of the 47 games this season and in only five of those matches have they been able to field what many would consider to be their strongest centre-back pairing of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane. They won four of those five matches and lost one.
It is ridiculous for anybody to be blaming the coach for the physical fitness of players who can barely run during games. Is Manchester United’s training regimen more stringent than Manchester City’s or Liverpool?
Who doubts that the hard-core disciplinarian that Erik Ten Hag is has also led him down this path. Remember how he dealt with the club’s legend, Ronaldo? This larger-than-life personality and soccer wizard of all stripes needed the iron-fist of Erik Ten Hag and he left the club much to the dismay and consternation of some. In any venture, once you start touching the untouchables, be sure your head is going to be demanded on the petri dish. Look at the fallout with Jaden Sancho. Manchester United spent two years hunting for this otherwise wonder boy. Yet, he too is yet to find his place in the EPL and he fell out with the coach and Eric rightfully will not have it. Of course, Jaden was offloaded to Germany where he has been performing relatively well. Ten Hag’s ability to check the big egos of some of these players is part of his waterloo.
Others claim that ETH is good only for the Eredivisie and not for the fast paced and ultracompetitive English Premier League. One wonders how Eric Ten Hag pulled the feat last season in his first year at the EPL and all of a sudden, he is not fit for the EPL? What is the pedigree of the current coaches of the EPL? And the question remains whether ETH can successfully coach any of the top five clubs of the EPL? It might be instructive to look at the alternatives being proposed to Eric Ten Hag: Graham Porter, Thomas Tuchel, Southgate, Zinedine Zidane and the list keeps growing. The EPL might be the most expensive league and not necessarily the most competitive. The jury is out on that. In fact, one must ask which is the best football league in the world? German Bundesliga? French Ligue 1, Spanish LaLiga, Italian Serie A, Dutch Eredivisie. Let me just state here en passant that none of the top coaches came from the EPL. They came to the EPL and continued building and burnishing their resume. In fact, Liverpool F.C. have gone to the Eredivisie and poached Arne Slot, current manager of Feyenoord to replace the legendary Klopp.
There is a bias that is not lost on anyone namely that Erik Ten Hag is not British. One often wonders whether if Eric Ten Hag were British would this pile on have been the same? Some would readily point to Graham Porter who was sacked from Chelsea. He is a Brit and did not get spared when people thought the results were unsatisfactory. Even more poignant is the media bias against Eric Ten Hag. From the get go, Eric Ten Hag was not the natural choice of the British media for the job. The media pile on has been overwhelming.
One of the biggest crimes of Erik Ten Hag is to have accepted to come and coach Manchester United. The theatre of dreams has become a killer of dreams. Some have referred to Manchester United as the place where talents come to stall and actually regress. There is a seeming curse that has befallen Manchester United and blighted them. Think about Van Gaal and even the Special One, Mourinho who could not survive there. Manchester United’s problem is not a coaching problem. It is beyond and bigger than that. Even if legendary Sir Alex Ferguson were to return to Old Trafford today, he would flop not just because times have changed but there are lots of things wrong with Manchester United.
ETH deserves another season at least.