Erik ten Hag equals unwanted Louis van Gaal record at Man Utd as pressure mounts

23 December 2023 , 15:19

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Erik ten Hag equals unwanted Louis van Gaal record at Man Utd as pressure mounts

In the final days of Advent, Manchester United have once more been haunted by the ghosts of managers past. And neither Christmas present nor the future look promising for Erik ten Hag after this miserable performance lacking any spirit.

Jose Mourinho got the Yuletide log rolling this week by claiming he told the Old Trafford club during his tenure in 2016-18 that they could not win with some players and staff who remain there now.

Now Ten Hag has equalled the unwanted record of his fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal by going three Premier League matches without scoring a goal.

And this latest embarrassment was overseen by European trophy winner David Moyes, the Chosen One who was in charge of a very average Manchester United team when they won this fixture 3-1 on the Saturday before Christmas in 2013.

The scorers were Danny Welbeck, Adnan Januzaj and Ashley Young. That now feels like halcyon days and Moyes’ seventh-placed finish that season seems a bit ambitious for the classless of 2023-24.

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After holding Liverpool last weekend, Ten Hag claimed he does not need to enter the transfer market in January because his squad is good enough when everyone is fit.

But everyone has not been fit and United are now out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup and below West Ham in the table. Aston Villa are next on Boxing Day.

Manchester United were beaten 2-0 by West Ham

Casemiro, Lisandro Martinez, Mason Mount, Tyrell Malacia and Amad Diallo are all on the long-term injury list and Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Raphael Varane plus the suspended Diago Dalot were all out yesterday. But this is the famous Manchester United. The club of Charlton, Best, Cantona and Rooney. And not only star quality was missing at the London Stadium yesterday, but so was effort and pride.

The Reds patchwork defence illustrated the problems with the Old Trafford club on and off the field. There was £50m mis-fit Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back,, a generation game central pairing combination of free transfer Jonny Evans, 35, and 19-year-old Frenchman Willy Kambwala, who made a creditable senior debut.

And you can’t help thinking Mourinho was talking about Luke Shaw when he told his former Chelsea favourite John Obi Mikel: "There are still people in that club, and when I say people I mean some players but also some other people that are not players, that are still there when I told [United] after two months: With these people, you are never going to do it. And they are still there."

But the players brought in are no better. In the A-Z of worst-ever Premier League signings, £82m Antony is alongside George Weah’s "cousin" Ali Dia at Southampton.

You just feel sorry for Rasmus Hojlund as he was hooked off again while Marcus Rashford’s name has been invoked more times in the Covid inquiry this season than for anything positive he has done on the pitch.

Hammers goalscorers Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus - as well as playmaker Lucas Paqueta - would walk into this Manchester United team. "You're getting sacked in the morning," the West Ham fans cheered unseasonably before the end at Ten Hag.

With Wham at No.1 this Christmas there is a real 80s feel to the top flight chart with Manchester United down in eighth. The tally of 20 defeats in all competitions in 2023 is their most in a single calendar year since losing the same number in 1989.

Erik ten Hag is under growing pressure (DAVID CLIFF/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

But the biggest ghost is the manager who saw Manchester United born again in the 1990s - Sir Alex Ferguson - and the stylish football his team played

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This fixture always recalls for me the 2005 meeting between the two great clubs just two days after the death of George Best. Fans of both sides united in a minute of deafening applause for the North Irish genius with one banner summing up the emotional mood: "George Best and Bobby Moore: God has one hell of a team." Now Manchester United are one hell of a mess.

Neil McLeman