TEN HAG IS SACKED IN ANOTHER FALSE DAWN AT OLD TRAFFORD
So, it is back to square one for England's if not the world's biggest club after Manchester United sacked their manager Erik Ten Hag.
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| Erik Ten Hag's Finest Hour was the 2024 F.A. Cup Final Defeat of Manchester City |
That was one of many arguments advanced not to fire the Dutchman in the summer, but 14th place after nine games of the new season was deemed good enough evidence for the prosecution of the death sentence. Football remains a results-based business so had they beaten West Ham at the weekend Ten Hag may still have been in a job today, albeit on another stay of execution.
And yet, in his final game in charge, Ten Hag's United played pretty well and were unlucky to lose. Had the Red Devils taken more of their many chances in the first half and that absurd penalty not been awarded in the second, then they would have sat eighth in the table, which is far better than 14th. Such are the margins.
Three draws out of three in the Europa League did not inspire the new Ineos management, but the 0-3 home defeats to Liverpool and Tottenham were worse and depressingly redolent of the previous campaign, which the glorious F.A. Cup final win over Manchester City was supposed to have buried.
Instead, the euphoria of that day when Ten Hag outcoached Pep Guardiola did not carry over into the new season as hoped and the evidence appeared to be mounting that this league campaign would end up like the last one, far from the desired Champions League spots.
For directors and fans alike, it was impossible to put the real hammerings United took last season, particularly the 0-7 loss to Liverpool, out of their minds. Under Ten Hag, United have a poor ratio of expected goals but more crucially struggled defensively, conceding three or more on 24 occasions, while the manager's much-mentioned project and system have been increasingly hard to define. The team had some good individuals but failed to really gel or find a settled lineup.
If there was any doubt that performances were not going to turn around and that last season's Wembley win was the exception to the rule, it probably came from Ten Hag's verbal delivery, a blunt and very Dutch way of speaking which nevertheless failed to translate into the English football lexicon. From what he said to the press, nobody in the end was quite sure what he was thinking.
While the fine detail of his firing will emerge soon, yesterday's announcement took everyone by surprise. The timing appeared to have something to do with their conversations with Ruben Amorim of Sporting Lisbon with Sunday's defeat giving them the green light to open the trap door.
The Portuguese club have confirmed United is willing to pay Amorim's release clause and yet the air is still oddly alive with speculation that Marco Silva and others are in the frame, perhaps as reserve choices. In reality the conversations with other managers began last year and it would appear the decision to axe was taken at the six-hour board meeting in London earlier this month.
Still, the whole affair does not fill United fans with confidence that another new dawn is on the horizon. The supposedly new set-up of directors have failed to stem the malaise and cost the club half a billion pounds in the process.
Ten Hag was given a contract extension in the summer, which will cost the club £15 million, while he was allowed relatively free rein in the transfer market, buying 21 players, eight of whom cost €50 million or more each.
Anthony at €95 million was his costliest capture and a glaring overspend, but Rasmus Hojlund (€74 million), Mason Mount (€64 million) and Lenny Yoro (€62 million) were also expensive misadventures. The new manager will inherit a squad of many players bought by Ten Hag but not a team with a beating heart, clear system or solid backbone. Finding a proven goalscorer like United used to have in Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Ruud Van Nistelrooy might be a start.
While INEOS are scrambling to retain credibility in their managerial acumen now they find themselves in the realm of football for the first time, Red Devils fans will shrug and move on to their tenth man in the dugout since Alex Ferguson retired.
The route to returning to the heights of world football remains elusive at Old Trafford, a full 11 years since Fergie time finished. They are like Dante at the start of Inferno, stopped in the middle of a dark wood, the right way ahead invisible.
At least the history books will be reasonably kind to the former Ajax manager, who can point to his two trophies won while in Manchester, or three if you count winning the 2024/25 Premier League Sack Race.
(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile