Manchester United and their recurring problems are dominating this new football season. They have had a terrible start to the season. Optimism oozed like the first day at school where you eagerly anticipate writing in the first page of your new book. The 2022/23 season was the fresh page Manchester United fans craved under the tutelage of new manager Eric ten Hag. Ten Hag’s first day at the Manchester United school suffered a ruined first page at home against Brighton. It prompted the masses to say there is always the next lesson and a new page against Brentford.
The Bees were certainly not there for the taking and their energetic and well coached approach stung Manchester United. The big question is would their four first half goals in twenty-five minutes sting Eric ten Hag permanently?
Manchester United have massive issues that need addressing. You could be forgiven in thinking that we have jumped into the Delorean and returned to October 2021. Or even November 2021. No let’s say January 2022. What about May 2022? You can even repeat the process for the final fixture in May from 2013 – 2022. Of course there have been a few second place finishes to paper over the fast approaching cracks. Also some cup victories.
I would love Doc Brown to take me back to 1985 and the start of my journey of supporting Manchester United. However, there are similarities to the time I am experiencing now. In 1985 I would regularly say to my long suffering Manchester United supporting father that, “we will win the league this year won’t we?” He would jolly me along but I am sure he knew deep down it wasn’t imminent. Looking back then I absolutely loved the innocence of the hope rather than expectation.
In August 2022 there certainly is hope but this hope is not strong enough to kill you. The 2022 edition of Manchester United hope is that coupled with a laugh and a joke where you know the season will end up in some form of footballing turmoil. I am extremely comfortable in laughing at my hope and there certainly is no expectation in winning any trophies in the immediate future.
Let me just stress that no club has the divine right to win silverware. I have have never expected it and never will. What I do expect is sporting effort and determination. After all football is a competitive game and you need to compete. It seems this is not the case at Manchester United. All is not well and some form of analysis is required.
It would take an age to analyse the inadequacies of Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. I am going to have a snapshot of my own views and what it looks like as an outsider looking in the Old Trafford classroom.
Signing new players are the highlight of all transfer windows. I am sure most fans have a sneaky look at a transfer gossip website to distract them from their daily chores. We all loved the Panini Sticker Books and craving that super star sticker. Those days you would open up your packet of stickers hoping for a ‘shiny’ or Bryan Robson. ‘Got, got, need’ can be said as enthusiastically in reading the transfer targets for your club. We all know they do not come true but we return anyway.
Manchester United’s transfer policy is similar to opening a packet of Panini stickers. “Need, need, had (in Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba), need, go on then (in Marko Arnautović), need” is the scatter gun approach of Manchester United’s one thousand football or sporting directors. Money has been spent over the years but spending has not been enough. Unfortunately, every player Manchester United have purchased has not improved at the club. Every player has regressed massively.
There are not that many transfer successes of any note. Bruno Fernandes would be considered a success. However, he was at his best when he was still effectively a Sporting Lisbon player. You can be forgiven in thinking that he was still in the coaching head space from his coaches back in Portugal. The longer he has been in Manchester, the worse he has become.
There are others that have suffered drastic dips in form since joining Manchester United. Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho, Raphaël Varane, Eric Bailly, Paul Pogba Victor Lindelöf, etc are names that roll off the tongue. There are more. Have a look at the various lists that are there to be researched. I would say not one player has improved at Manchester United. Players that have come through the ranks seem to have not hit their potential. Marcus Rashford was at his best when he was young and hungry. The longer he has stayed in the first team the more evident his footballing skills have disappeared too. There seems a lack of coaching and desire at Manchester United.
It’s a lack of quality coaching. An out of depth David Moyes, a reactionary appointment of Louis van Gaal, a bitter Jose Mourinho, an out of depth Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and a strange Ralf Rangnick have been the headmasters entrusted at Old Trafford. You have to suggest these were not the best of the best. Maybe for some other times in their careers but something did not seem right. You can credit Van Gaal and Mourinho with cup wins in successive years but as in the 1977, 1983 and 1985 these were cup wins that masked inadequate league performances. Perhaps Doc Brown could take Solskjaer back to The 2021 Europa Cup Final and change his goalkeeping strategy. That was his sliding doors moment. Solskjaer never recovered. Perhaps United have not since then?
With a good coach comes great reponsibility. Well United certainly seem to weave themselves into a web that they cannot break out of when it comes to those in power. A quarter of a billion pounds spent on centre backs in the last few years suggest a lack of forward planning. United now have about three (not my exaggerated early comment) sporting directors that must decide on signings.
I don’t prescribe to the sporting director nonsense because I feel they’re like a manager who used to sign the players in terms of the wrong sporting director equals the wrong type of player equals a new sporting director equals different type of players equals lots of different players/styles. However, in today’s intricate football world I suppose you need a direction. It seems Darren Fletcher, John Murtough and Andy O Boyle don’t really know what a plan is and have instructed Ten Hag to go for his targets. Therefore, naturally he may look at what he knows? It seems over complicated and too many cooks and quite a nice gravy train for some.
I’ve always prescribed to an old school approach in terms of character, roll your sleeves up, etc versus planning. But football is now so intricate in the detail. Although I may think football is over coached where freedom and the Bryan Robson/Steven Gerrard/Roy Keane type of box to box general taking the game from the scruff of the neck should come natural. Clearly it’s not. Players now need telling to the point where they should be to the laminated sheet and iPad from the dugout. I suppose United haven’t had that. Professional sportsmen are thoroughbreds. There’s a reason why Kauto Star was soooo good. He was trained, prepared and primed for the big occasion. Manchester United players do not have any of this.
All of this is not the fault of Ten Hag after three months but highlights his massive job. Whatever the complacent attitude is, it would need to be eradicated and that may take time. Do Manchester United and Eric Ten Hag have this time? With two defeats in his first two games have prompted him to be renamed Eric Ten Games.
There was some form of hope at the start of the season. However, the lesson that I have learnt is to turn off social media for preseason. In 1987 you would not hear of the results in outer Norway or Finland. Now the matches are all over podcasts and twenty-four hour sports channels. We dine on it. We thrive in the optimism preseason provides.
You can’t read into preseason but United played with pace at the back and upfront in Bailly and Martial. Obviously they aren’t the ones but there seemed a faster approach. United sign what seems a hundredth central defender in Lisandro Martinez and stick him straight in. I suppose you have to back your signing but I’ve said a lot that it takes people ages to adjust from the Dutch League. Surely it would not have hurt giving him time to settle in?
Also signing Christian Eriksen and playing him straight away as a false number nine when a false number nine was nowhere to be seen in preseason. Could United have gone with the pace of Elanga somewhere to keep the speed up in the early matches?
Eriksen was then used as the deep midfielder in the disaster at Brentford. Even want away striker Cristiano Ronaldo was brought back. The pressing game was pressed and squeezed by rampant Brentford. Weaknesses were exposed such as having a Manchester United defender pass the goal kick to David de Gea. Therefore making the goalkeeper responsible for that key second pass. De Gea fluffed his passing lines and instead of being the extra man for United, he became the play maker for Brentford. Saying that I think Eriksen was still pulling the strings for The Bees with his passes on the edge of United’s box. Granted De Gea didn’t help him.
This brings me to Eric ten Hag. I said Ten Hag wasn’t responsible for lack of coaching, etc but these are early odd decisions that are on him and he needs to learn fast. Otherwise Eric Ten Games only has Eight Games to go. If Ten Hag wants my help I will happily pass on Doc Brown’s number to take him back to any time he wants. I wonder if he will pick April 2022?