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<\/p>\nThe pressure is mounting on Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag (Richard Sellers\/PA)<\/p>\n
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The performance was wrong. The tactics were, too. The team selection as well. At the last, an hour after Galatasaray sealed victory, it felt as though Erik ten Hag got something right. \u201cThere are no excuses,\u201d he said. And as he surveyed Manchester United\u2019s start to the season \u2013 historically bad, even by the wrong sort of standards they have set in recent years \u2013 there aren\u2019t, really. Not injuries, many as there have been, or misfortune, despite Christian Eriksen\u2019s assertion that \u201cthe not lucky part is following us around at the moment\u201d.<\/p>\n
Not when United are the masters of mistakes, finding new ways to plumb new depths as Galatasaray, without a Champions League away win since 2013, triumphed at Old Trafford. Even for a club who have amassed many an unflattering statistic over the last decade, there were historic lows: United have made their worst-ever start to a Champions League group. They have lost six of their first 10 matches of a campaign for the first time since 1986-87, a spell that eventually resulted in Ron Atkinson\u2019s sacking.<\/p>\n
And now, for the first time in his reign, there is the question if Ten Hag has entered a similar death spiral. He dismissed it as a blip, not a slump with terminal consequences. \u201cLast season was brilliant, terrific, more than we could expect but also in this project we knew there would be gaps and we are in a very difficult period,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But this season has been less than United would expect. Even with Lisandro Martinez injured, they fielded five of Ten Hag\u2019s starters against Galatasaray. Two more came off the bench. Those seven players have a combined cost of over \u00a3300m. And if Antony, who accounts for \u00a386m of that, looked Ten Hag\u2019s folly last season, that unwanted tag may have been transferred to Andre Onana, who conceded three goals from four attempts on target and seems to have a marked aversion to saving shots: the supposed upgrade on David de Gea was a conspicuous problem against Galatasaray. If many a goalkeeper, the watching Peter Schmeichel included, makes himself big in a one-on-one situation, Onana makes himself small.<\/p>\n
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The broader point is that it is Ten Hag\u2019s team now. There are no excuses. He was given a pass last season when things went wrong \u2013 and they sometimes did spectacularly \u2013 because of the mess he inherited but United have regressed, and alarmingly, in the last two months. It is a familiar scenario: Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a year or two of imperfect progress before, after reshaping teams at considerable cost, it spiralled out of their control. <\/p>\n
Ten Hag presented a picture of togetherness. \u201cWe come out together, fight together and stick together and that is me, the directors, the team: together we will fight,\u201d he said. That togetherness presumably excludes Jadon Sancho \u2013 Ten Hag\u2019s feud with the exiled winger has not benefited the manager, player, or team so far \u2013 and a disjointed rabble scarcely looked, well, united. Ten Hag nevertheless noted their urgency. \u201cEvery time they have the energy,\u201d he said. But energy without organisation was chaos and Casemiro\u2019s commitment came in the form of recklessness that brought a red card, partly caused by Onana\u2019s poor passing.<\/p>\n
Some close to the dressing room believe Ten Hag has already lost it during a slide of staggering scale. The Dutchman may argue the players are playing for him, but few are playing well. Rasmus Hojlund was terrific against Galatasaray but too many pivotal figures \u2013 Casemiro, Martinez, Marcus Rashford, Onana \u2013 have had troubled seasons. Beyond them, Diogo Dalot was one of several who improved under Ten Hag last season but was bullied by Wilfried Zaha for Galatasaray\u2019s first goal. Ten Hag\u2019s faith in those he has managed in the Netherlands has been illustrated by the choice of Sofyan Amrabat at left-back \u2013 albeit when the specialists are injured \u2013 but this was a day when United needed the Moroccan in midfield. Instead, they had Hannibal Mejbri, whose selection seemed a sign of the Dutchman\u2019s faith in youth but, as the ball bounced off the young Tunisian in various directions, he looked out of his depth.<\/p>\n
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Manchester United slumped to a home defeat against Galatasaray on Tuesday <\/p>\n
Ten Hag had a spell last season when many a decision was justified, when a team could even win despite having Wout Weghorst. Now the errors are not confined to his players. The speed of the revival was surprising but so, too, the pace of the decline this season. The boos have become a familiar sound, and a manager with a mantra of \u201cno excuses\u201d does not complain about then. But, as he walked off, he looked sodden and solitary in the Manchester rain, his naturally stern expression perhaps giving way to the haunted appearance United managers start to show.<\/p>\n
And this in a competition that helped persuade United to appoint him. Had Ten Hag taken Ajax to the 2019 Champions League final \u2013 and he was a 96th<\/sup>-minute shot from Lucas Moura away from doing it \u2013 then it might have been the single greatest piece of managerial overachievement in the competition in the last decade. But there are times when underachievement feels ingrained at United. Perhaps Ten Hag is right and it is a period, not the beginning of the end. When his employers have backed him to the hilt, he may not be under immediate pressure from the boardroom. But it also means he bears responsibility for this wretched run.<\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"