Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is under fire for his team's woeful form this season, but it seems like fans and pundits alike are visiting the frustrations from previous seasons on the Dutchman. Only weeks ago, a good portion of the fanbase felt he was doing something right; he, after all, coached the team to two pieces of silverware in as many years, while getting to the semifinal of the UEFA Europa League in his first season.
With the injury-plagued squad last season, no one was ready to dispense with Ten Hag just yet.
But taking eight points out of a possible 21 has thrown Ten Hag’s tactics, as well as his achievements–however colossally they sounded last summer–into perspective. Worse still is the realization that the Dutchman has sanctioned the transfer of over 20 first-team players, spending about €650 million in the process.
Three summers, 650 million euros, and two pieces of silverware don't sound like the worst deal out there, though. Except the team finished in their worst-ever ranking last season (8th place) and are off to their worst start to a Premier League campaign ever (W2, D2, L3). United sit in 14th place, level with West Ham United and Fulham on points, but only 19th-placed Southampton have scored fewer goals (4) than the Red Devils (5).
A cynical analysis will evaluate Manchester United’s business as a waste, given what is delivered every matchday, but the INEOS group doesn't think so. Having only recently taken over the club's running, they triggered Ten Hag's one-year extension this year, offering him time till 2026 to have the team back on track.
While the Dutchman's response was another €214 million splash last summer, the woes at Old Trafford can't be entirely pinned to one transfer window.
Poor tactical set-up
If one thing has been constant in the United squad in the post-Ferguson era, it has to be the downgrade in tactics, however obvious or obscured it might have been. Sure, managers like Jose Mourinho had the team playing at the top level for a period, but it wasn't what the club and fans were accustomed to seeing from the legendary Scott manager.
If anything, the tactical inefficiency has become more apparent under Ten Hag. Season after season, the team has had to revise their gameplay, starting with a potentially game-changing set-up only to switch back to desperate measures mid-season. While Ten Hag's desperate measures have yielded two new trophies for United, the fans are unhappy with the almost customary scramble towards the end of the season.
For the most part, the Manchester United defensive output has not been as horribly affected by the tactical set-up as the attacking department. Despite suffering notable injuries like Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez last season, and reshuffling for extended periods, the United defense has managed to scrape by, conceding the fifth-least goals (58) last season and the third-least (43) in 2022/23.
It's a different story for the attack, however. While moving on from Cristiano Ronaldo in 2022 seemed to be the best decision at the time, United has had to pay in more than cash for the loss of a prolific finisher. Two years and about €180 million later, the club has only managed 58 and 57 goals in 2022/23 and 2023/24 respectively, finishing eighth and tenth in the goal rankings for both seasons.
The attacking statistics look even worse when anyone considers that, unlike the defense, United's attack had an ever-present Bruno Fernandes behind a line-up of attacking outlets. While chances were aplenty in both seasons, an overall poor attacking performance emphasized the goal-scoring woes afflicting the club.
Misplaced transfers
With a striker problem on the the ground, Ten Hag took to the market last season, picking out Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta for €73.9 million to lead the attack for Manchester United. The Dane will go on to score a modest 10 Premier League goals from 30 games last season, amounting to about a sixth of United's total goals.
.png.jpg)
While those could count for decent returns, Hojlund’s hold-up playing style has been at variance with Ten Hag's lone striker set-up. The Dane is, more often than not, isolated by his markers, leaving the already inefficient United attack a man short. Plus, the increasing numbers of physically imposing center-backs in the Premier League make Hojlund's apparent physical deficiencies more of a weakness than a strength.
Striker problem unsolved, Ten Hag was back in the forward market again last summer, landing former Bologna forward Joshua Zirkzee following a breakthrough season under Thiago Motta. However, if Zirkzee’s physical positives were incentive enough to sign him, his apparent incompatibility with the United set-up was too much of a trade-off.
The Dutch forward offers a physical advantage with his height and stature–at 191 cm, Zirkzee is easily the tallest Manchester United player in the first team. His physical presence is complemented by his technical prowess, especially with ball distribution and midfield link-up. But the trade-off comes when you consider Zirkzee is not the fastest player in the camp–and he was never a striker to begin with.
Leading the attack line with a false nine, or a ‘9.5,’ as the media is dubbing Zirkzee, will be a hit-and-run tactic, certainly not what Ten Hag should be looking to play with week in, week out. And while it paid off against Fulham, when the Dutch forward scored on his debut to rescue all three points, the false-nine tactic clearly can’t be United’s staple. Not when the club so clearly lacks the personnel.
Apart from the failed striker signings, Tyrell Malacia and Mason Mount’s arrivals at United have been gross disappointments, and they look even worse given their positions are relatively understaffed at the moment. The left-back position is still a gaping hole in United’s defense and the team could do with a creative box-to-box midfielder. Even at the point of their signings, neither player looked an excellent fit for the positions, as Mount was fresh from playing as a second striker for most of Chelsea’s 2021/22 season, while Malacia was a thoroughly defensive fullback for Feyenoord, four times and notching 10 assists for over four seasons.
Transferring David de Gea out was another of Ten Hag’s poor calls, and if the transfer was ill-advised, the reason was even less logical. He claimed to favor a better distribution, discarding one of the best goalkeepers in the world for a comparably less adept shot-stopper. Andre Onana is a good goalie, no doubt, but the Cameroonian was not quite the upgrade the spectators expected.
Ten Hag under fire?
The situation around Ten Hag's position was in doubt all summer, as the fanbase was torn between euphoria from an FA Cup win–that too over Manchester City–and the poor showing that defined United's 2023/24 season. The INEOS group confirmed their faith in the Dutchman with an extension, but that decision might be due for review only two months later.
The top job at Manchester United comes with much pressure and scrutiny, but Ten Hag's case redefines all that. He is in dire need of results, however desperately they would come, and this might just be the time to get them.
After the third game of the week, Fantasy Premier League analyzed the next 10 fixtures for the Premier League teams, ranking them based on the difficulty of their respective runs, as displayed below. Manchester United ranked 18th on the list, sporting one of the easiest expected runs of games in the league.
They have gone on to win only one of the first four games on the chart, drawing two and losing one. After drawing their toughest tie according to the chart, Manchester United have a solid chance of picking most of the points from the remaining six games.
If it is down to salvaging his position, if only till the end of the season, Ten Hag will probably never have a better time to rake up those wins.
