It was still dark when Erik ten Hag drove into Carrington this morning with the storm clouds once again gathering over Manchester United’s beleaguered manager.
Yesterday’s 3-0 capitulation against Tottenham at Old Trafford has plunged Ten Hag back into crisis just six games into the new Premier League season. United have lost half of them and are languishing in the bottom half of the table with a negative goal difference.
Unless results improve quickly, Ten Hag is facing the sack just three-and-a-half months after a delegation from co-owners Ineos led by Sir Dave Brailsford flew to his holiday home in Ibiza to tell the Dutchman he was keeping his job, and a month after he was given a vote of confidence by new chief executive Omar Berrada.
How has it unravelled again so quickly? After reshaping the leadership team and coaching staff, and spending another £200million on new signings in the summer, why can’t Ten Hag produce a winning team?
Mail Sport looks at the issues behind the scenes that have pushed the United boss back to the brink again.
The storm clouds are gathering over Erik ten Hag after Manchester United’s loss to Tottenham
Ten Hag has been thrust back into crisis just six games into the new Premier League season
Dead man walking
Although Ten Hag was spared the axe in June after Ineos carried out an end-of-season review, by speaking to potential replacements before and after United’s victory in the FA Cup final a month earlier they were always at risk of undermining the manager.
The majority of players back Ten Hag but the feeling in the dressing room is that he is on borrowed time, and that is said to have contributed to a dip in performance levels this season. In the Premier League, even the slightest drop-off can be crucial.
United appeared to back Ten Hag by bringing in Dutch coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rene Hake and Jelle ten Rouwelaar, as well as several more signings familiar to the manager from his old club Ajax or from Holland like Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee.
But by hawking his job around in the summer, and only triggering the 12-month extension in his contract, the damage was done.
Alan Shearer told The Rest is Football podcast today: ‘As soon as it came out in the summer that United were looking at other managers, it was virtually going to be impossible for him.’
When Ten Hag agreed with Christian Eriksen’s comments after the draw with FC Twente last week that United’s opponents ‘wanted it more’, it set alarm bells ringing.
Even more so when they didn’t give him a response against Spurs, and that is something the United hierarchy will be monitoring closely in the games against FC Porto and Aston Villa this week.
The majority of players still back Ten Hag but the feeling is that he is on borrowed time
United’s hierarchy will be closely watching for a response after their capitulation to Spurs
No excuses
By improving the structure around Ten Hag, United also isolated the manager as a likely cause for any failure in the system.
There was an acceptance in the summer that he couldn’t be judged on last season’s disappointment because of the deficiencies above and below him at the club.
United brought in Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and an entirely new backroom team.
Ten Hag is the only constant, which means there can be no excuses if things don’t go well – and they could hardly have gone worse so far.
The return of former Old Trafford favourite Van Nistelrooy also creates an intriguing dynamic that wasn’t there before.
United would have been unlikely to turn to Ten Hag’s old assistants Mitchell van der Gaag or Steve McClaren to step in as caretaker manager had they sacked him last season.
Van Nistelrooy, on the other hand, is an up-and-coming coach who turned down a number of managerial opportunities to rejoin his old club and would be a potential replacement, at least in the short term.
The club brought in Omar Berrada (left) as CEO to help fix the deficiencies above Ten Hag
Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ten Hag’s assistant, would be a potential successor in the short term
Running out of time
Despite another big spend on new signings this summer – taking the total outlay under Ten Hag beyond £600m – none of them have shone so far.
With Leny Yoro out injured, Zirkzee, De Ligt, Mazraoui and Manuel Ugarte are still finding their feet in difficult circumstances.
Crucially, United failed to resolve two of their biggest problems from last season.
Left back was the main issue in the prolonged absence of Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia. It created a fundamental weakness in United’s defence and blunted Marcus Rashford who was asked to play deeper on the left to offer more protection.
Rashford dropped from scoring 30 goals in Ten Hag’s first season to eight in his second.
United signed Mazraoui who is a right-back while continuing to play Dalot out of position on the left. The Portugal international was caught out for Spurs’ first goal having previously struggled at Brighton and Southampton.
Meanwhile, Shaw hasn’t played for United since February and Malacia since May 2023.
United’s other problem last season was scoring, as they finished with a negative goal difference for the first time in the Premier League, and that has continued this term. The expected goal statistics show that they should have nearly doubled their total of five in six league games.
Having decided to buy Rasmus Hojlund last year instead of pushing harder for Harry Kane, they opted for Zirkzee this summer ahead of a more experienced Premier League striker like Ivan Toney who moved to Saudi Arabia instead.
Zirkzee has scored once in eight games while Hojlund has yet to get off the mark this season as he eases back into action following a hamstring injury.
Ten Hag spoke before the Spurs debacle about the decision he and the club have made to invest in youth and called for patience as he moulds the team. The trouble is that time isn’t on his side.
United decided to buy Rasmus Hojlund last season instead of trying harder for Harry Kane
The side’s weakness at left back blunted Marcus Rashford, who was asked to play deeper
‘Uncoached’ team
The defeat to Tottenham on the back of a deflating draw with Twente has once again left Ten Hag’s coaching and tactics open to scrutiny.
It was embarrassing for him that four days after saying Bart Van Rooij should never have been allowed to go past half United’s team in the build-up to a goal, Micky van de Ven did exactly the same for Spurs.
Former United defender Phil Jones highlighted how United’s pressing was out of sync. ‘Eventually they become disjointed all over the pitch,’ added Jones.
His old team-mate Paul Scholes was even more damning in his assessment of Ten Hag’s coaching.
‘You don’t know how they’re going to approach games, whether they are going to play on the counter-attack or sit deep, or whether they’re going to try to have all the possession in the game,’ said Scholes.
‘We’ve no idea – they look like an uncoached football team.’A lack of identity has been one of the main criticisms levelled at Ten Hag’s teams since he took over, and it’s an issue he seems no closer to resolving after nearly two-and-a-half years in the job.
Look around the Premier League at the impact Enzo Maresca has had at Chelsea, Arne Slot at Liverpool, Ange Postecoglou at Spurs or Unai Emery at Aston Villa, and they have all been able to make their mark in less time.
Micky van de Ven was allowed to run almost the whole length of the pitch for Spurs’ opener
A lack of identity has been one of the main criticisms levelled at Ten Hag since he took charge
Lucky stars
Results will determine Ten Hag’s fate, and another concern for the people who will make the decision is that they could have been even worse.
United were well beaten in the 3-0 defeats by Liverpool and Tottenham, and Andre Onana saved his team from a thrashing on Sunday with four one-on-one saves.
A team packed with expensive stars were a little unfortunate to lose at Brighton when inexplicably naive defending led to Joao Pedro’s injury-time winner. But the opening victory over Fulham might easily have gone the other way as well, and so could the win at Southampton had it not been for Onana saving a penalty.
As he tries to dig himself out of another hole, the harsh reality for Ten Hag is that it could be considerably deeper.