Erik ten Hag is in big trouble - but Man Utd need to grit it out for full season
Erik ten Hag and Manchester United players will have to sweat it out and take the pain of this crisis.
Now is the time for gritted teeth, and a heads down attitude, not for toys out the prams and big changes. Make no mistake Ten Hag is in big trouble. His players look like they’ve downed tools. The manager looks bereft as he stands on the touchline surveying the wreckage of this last week.
This is the worst start by Manchester United in 60 years. They’ve lost half of their league games and are 11 points behind leaders Spurs and eight behind Liverpool in fourth. They’ve lost half of their ten games at home for the first time in more than 90 years.
Is Ten Hag the man to solve it? If you go to Fulham and Copenhagen and don’t turn it around, or keep losing, then who knows? It’s a results business. The crowd was turning against him on Wednesday and grumbling at subs and the performance and rightly so. That reaches a tipping point at any club.
But there is this mini-takeover. Sir Jim Ratcliffe buying a stake. Dave Brailsford ready to influence the sporting side of things at Old Trafford. I don’t think there can be any big changes until that is done, and they’ve had a good look behind the scenes.
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I would let them all suffer for the rest of the season and grit it out. If Ten Hag and his players work it out, then fine. Now is not the time to find a new boss. Let Ten Hag sweat. Let his players feel the wrath of the crowd and pull their socks up.
People are thinking the dressing room is problematic and there are fallings out, and big players being left out. Can you turn that round? What does a manager do? You try loads of things. Formation, shapes, different training, consulting the players. Asking them what is wrong.
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Jim Ratcliffe is set to make big changes when his deal for a 25 percent stake in the club is confirmed (AFP via Getty Images)If there are factions everywhere, can you heal them? Once it is broken it is really hard to fix. He’s had lots of difficult circumstances. Last season he was among the best at what he did. But now from the sidelines it is: Wow. How bad.
The performance against Newcastle, wow. Look at the empty seats at the end. That is worrying. It looked like the fans, like the team have no belief. They have got no energy. The goals they concede - problems everywhere, players switching off.
Look at the stats. I know for a fact Ten Hag was appointed on stats, his metrics. But look at Man U’s metrics now, they are not doing well. Then you’ve got Bruno Fernandez throwing his arms all over the place despite being captain. They had more captains against Newcastle than shots on target!
The recruitment has got to be so much better. This is the richest club in the world with a turnover three times the likes of Newcastle, Villa and Brighton. It is astonishing a club that rich who can blow anyone away in the market have ended up like this. It is a decade in the making.
I supposed he has to show belligerent and strength to get through. Pull on all his resources. If not, Old Trafford will turn. I hear everyone saying it is the Glazers. They have spent £400m in the last 18 months. Who brought the players in then? It can’t just be the Glazers.
The Glazers don’t kick the ball. When you get beaten people say it is from the top. As a football club owner if you have spent and given the manager the players they want….are you the worst in the world?
The players and the management are the ones who have to share it. There are levels of responsibility. The football issues are on the head of the manager, the players and the recruitment people. The whole club.
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