In the eye of Man United’s storms, Ten Hag has no reason to fret MINTAH Writes

Coming off an impressive debut season, Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag should be on the hot seat looking at the indifferent start the Red Devils have had to open the 2023-2024 season.

United’s historically bitter rival Liverpool on the other hand, has at least something to smile about looking at the number of minutes newbies Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis MacAllister have played together four games into the season.

MacAllister and former RB Leipzig midfielder Szoboszlai have played 672 minutes together which is a higher mark than Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain and Naby Keita (625 minutes) managed together through the whole of the 2022-2023 season.

Speaking of MacAllister, the Argentine player’s former team Brighton and Hove Albion is the immediate next opponent for Manchester United and the Seagulls go into the game with a ton of confidence and serenity.

Szoboszlai-MacAllister Photo Credit: Liverpool Echo

Two wins and two losses in four EPL games isn’t the most terrible start to a 38 game league season but for a team that spent over $170 million on new recruits on top of heavy investment pumped into Ten Hag’s debut season, Man United should have at least nine points from a possible 12 to begin the new campaign.

Harry Maguire of Manchester United celebrates with the trophy among team mates during the Carabao Cup Final (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Coming off the international break, there is palpable belief Man United loses to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, September 16. Looking at how Brighton has carried on from its impressive showing last season, it is fair to pick the Seagulls for the win this weekend.

After all, Man United’s pair of wins has been registered in unimpressive fashion against mid to lower tier clubs Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Joao Pedro scored on debut at Brighton (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Aside a major blip against West Ham United, Brighton are the same outfit of the 2022-2023 season; the same team that captured the hearts, minds and eyes of idealists and even the staunchest “hater” with its silky free flowing brand of football.

Unlike Man United, De Zerbi’s team is settled and not as burdened with bad off the pitch PR in connection with its players conduct. United is without two of its top inverted wing options in Antony and Mason Greenwood who are implicated in cases of alleged sexual misconduct and that is one of several issues that ought to be a major headache for Ten Hag.

Roberto De Zerbi,. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images for Premier League)

However, in an interesting twist of fate, that isn’t the case as mitigating factors have come to the aid of the former Ajax head coach.

From a team perspective, should Man United fail to build on last season’s run, Ten Hag won’t be blamed for the disappointment looking at the chaos in the team and here is how Ten Hag gets absolved of blame in all this.

Antony and Greenwood Legal troubles

Antony Photo Courtesy: Yahoo

Sexual allegations slapped on both players and the lingering results could feel like an albatross on the neck of a manager who would have to consistently address questions on both players at every turn. However, Ten Hag doesn’t have to do so as Greenwood has been shipped off to Getafe on loan while Anthony has been excused by the team.

Mason Greenwood (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

In case both players return to Old Trafford, Ten Hag wouldn’t be the Bad Guy responsible for that since the final decision lies with the much maligned team owners, The Glazers and club CEO Richard Arnold who isn’t the most liked guy at Old Trafford.

Avram Glazer, owner of Manchester United at a training session (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

The American Billionaire family can’t do anything right in the eyes of most Man United fans even after consistently supporting its managers over the years to the tune of over a billion pounds. Having such a big fall guy or in this case fall guys, is just perfect for Ten Hag to avoid intense scrutiny over his personnel and tactical choices.

Jadon Sancho fallout

Jadon Sancho (Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

Ten Hag has a lot of cache in the bank in the Jadon Sancho drama since the Dutch coach has been a strong defender of Sancho in the former Borussia Dortmund player’s many down moments. Ten Hag sounded positive on several occasions when discussing Sancho and what he adds to the team but on the flip side, Sancho quite frankly hasn’t lived up to the hefty price tag or hype since leaving the Signal Iduna Park.

Based on last season’s performance and his successful time with Ajax, Ten Hag has shown that he is a quality coach and that is enough to believe his scathing remarks on Sancho’s training habits.

Jadon Sancho (Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Rather than have the manager be solely responsible for entangling this thorny issue as is often the case, Man United’s CEO Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough are reported to take active roles in ending the feud. The result is a personal training programme for the English winger away from the team

Should Sancho return and improve his performances, Ten Hag gets credit for that; should Sancho leave Man United, Ten Hag still gets credit as a strong disciplinarian and one who puts the team’s needs ahead of a player’s needs regardless of the player’s profile.

Greenwood-Ronaldo Photo Courtesy: Getty Images

Ten Hag’s handling of Cristiano Ronaldo en route to winning the Carabao Cup and making an FA Cup finals appearance would be an example to buttress this belief.

Marquee signings slow start

James Maddison of Tottenham Hotspur is challenged by Casemiro of Manchester United (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

While new signings like Moussa Diaby, Sandro Tonali and Dominik Szoboszlai are shining away, Man United’s top recruits are yet to deliver a statement performance. While Ten Hag played a key role in Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund’s transfers to Manchester United, the manager has an alibi he can lean on to deflect any questions on his scouting abilities.

Hojlund is working his way back into form from a back injury, Amrabat got to Man United injured and Mount’s horrible run since joining Man United is on hold as he deals with a hamstring injury.

Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United poses with Manager Erik ten Hag after signing for the club (Photo by Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Physical ailments can buy Ten Hag’s signings time to get the confidence and form to play up to the value of their contracts and possibly beyond such values.

As an aside, Antony’s suspension and subsequent time off also buys Ten Hag time to get his very pricey signing to be more consistent and more productive on his return.

Ten Hag with Amrabat Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports

On and off the pitch, matters are far from good for Man United fans, owners and players but the Red Devils manager Erik Ten Hag is in a better place than other stakeholders and should be the last person to fret in the rocky phase the club is going through.

Manchester United under Erik Ten Hag; So Far, So OLE

Antony’s debut goal in all important game even in this early part of the season against an improved Arsenal is bound to grab the headlines. After all, the diminutive Brazilian winger was a surprise starter after completing his high profile move to Old Trafford a few days before and beyond that, there was the obvious issue of the hefty sum of money Manchester United doled out to get him from Ajax to live up to.

Antony not only showed the United faithful that he has the quality and temperament to excel but he repaid the enormous faith Head Coach Erik Ten Hag has in him.

So four wins in six games with all four wins coming on the bounce after two poor losses to open the new season but beneath the shining stat of a healthy goal count and accumulated points is the worrying reality of Man United’s best goal outlet.

In the latest win for the Red Devils that came via a 3-1 win over Arsenal, all three goals scored by Man United came in transition the same way all but one goal scored by the team in the previous wins. Jadon Sancho’s quick feet and composure inside the box before slotting the ball into the net against Liverpool is the only goal Man United has scored without transiting possession quickly.

As long as the wins keep coming is there a problem with that? Possibly so because if United is to play its way through the season this way, the fate that befell former Coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is likely to repeat itself.

While Ole’s Manchester United run through a record setting 28 away game unbeaten record, his side failed to win when teams sat deep. Such failures to get his team pry other teams open minus quick transitional play cost Manchester United the Premier League title in the 2020-2021 season, the Europa League title and for Ole, that inability cost him the job.

Thus far, judging by what Man United has been able to do, the team needs to build the vaunted Ten Hag identity that thrives on playing through teams to score goals and get wins fast before the losses roar back and kill off the renewed confidence of the team.

The Ten Hag style of attacking play as seen at Ajax is heavy on controlling the game but his new team has consistently done the opposite and surprisingly the Head Coach has a hand in it. In the first pair of games that opened the new season, Man United tried to play finesse football Ten Hag’s teams are noted for but it didn’t work and was bound not work against a Brentford side that has speedy forwards with a lot of physicality to overpower a high defensive line.

However, Ten Hag has quickly shown he is willing to switch from his idealist ways to more pragmatic ways to get the job done and having such a perspective to alter his style will serve him well. Four wins into the Ten Hag era, Man United has adopted the infamous “Rope -A- Dope” style that served legendary boxer Mohammed Ali so well in his colossal fight against George Foreman in “Rumble in the Jungle”.

As witnessed against Arsenal, Man United lacked control of the game after grabbing the game’s lead and Arsenal capitalized on it. Ten Hag didn’t help his team by taking off Jadon Sancho and Antony and replacing them with Cristiano Ronaldo and Fred at the expense of Casemiro.

In an individual sport, controlling the level of risk is far less than the risks levels involved in a team sport like football where many factors are beyond the control of individuals in a team. This is why Old Trafford was very uncomfortable until Arsenal’s high defensive line was broken twice by Marcus Rashford who finished off the moves to boot.

In disappointing losses to Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford in games where United played the Ten Hag way (pressing high up the pitch, playing out from the back and dominating possession) the results were terrible. While largely blamed and flat out vilified by others for United’s poor state before Ralf Rangnick’s takeover, present results continue to cast a good light on Ole’s style.

Since Tag Hag’s side played like Ole’s, the results have been successful which goes to show perhaps Solskjaer’s ways of getting goals and wins weren’t so bad after all.

Surprising little wins led to big win for Man United over Leipzig

The Atlanta Falcons have two wins in eight games and are destined for a lottery pick in the 2021 NFL Draft but a closer look at the team’s play this season digs up close shaves which would put the team on a different path of circumstances. There was the shock ending in the loss to Dallas Cowboys and had Todd Gurley just run out the clock instead of getting a rushing touchdown, two more wins would have been added to the team’s tally. However, that did not happen and without a four wins in nine games record to keep the team in contention for a wild card playoff spot, Head Coach Dan Quinn and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff have lost their jobs.

Jones-Ryan

At this point, the Falcons are on the cusp of rebooting the team by trading valuable players like Julio Jones, Deion Jones and Quarterback Matt Ryan. The fine margins determine a whole lot and that is why the margins fished out in the pond of Manchester United’s 5-0 win over RB Leipzig can’t be ignored. Marcus Rashford bagged the team’s first hat trick since Robin Van Persie was on the team but beyond this, there were quite a number of “firsts” witnessed in the game which are bound to make the team a worthy title challenger in all competitions.

Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as Head Coach of the team, scoring goals via the counter attack has largely marked Man United’s output in attack. The team has relied heavily on the speed of its forward line to exploit gaps left behind when opposing teams press as witnessed in Rashford’s first of three goals in midweek. On the contrary, three of United’s goal came as a result of the team winning the ball high up the pitch to strike down last season’s Champions League semifinalist. Fred was responsible for two of those ball wins in Leipzig territory to set Paul Pogba up to run at the defence and assist Mason Greenwood’s crisp finish.

Fred

The Brazilian put Rashford through on goal for the latter’s second of the night after another similar 50-50 challenge win. While Ole’s team has an attacking verve, in reality, it is a conservative defensive set up that sits deep and strikes when opponents leave spaces behind. But on Wednesday, Ole and his guys stomached the risk of exposing Nemanja Matic’s lack of speed and leaving spaces behind to get more bodies in Leipzig’s half and force them to commit mistakes that were duly exploited.

Perhaps the most important “first” of the night, Man United kept a clean sheet in consecutive games for the first time this season. Holding the high scoring Chelsea offense goalless was followed up with another shut out of a very good attacking team. The contrasting styles used to grab the important statistic for what has been a shaky backline has been impressive. Against Chelsea, the conservative approach was a bit too much and generated conversations about the team’s willingness to take risks which is a hallmark of great sides.

Maguire-Lindelof

That wasn’t the case against Leipzig as United played on the front foot and the much maligned central defensive pair of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindeloef looked and played with confidence and comfort. As the season progresses, this should be a characteristic of the team especially with more firepower up front than before. [Bayern Munich won last season’s Champions League by risking it all with a high line and had the daylight scared out of them by Olympique Lyon and PSG in the semifinal and final. They rolled the dice and benefited from it.]

Due to a mix of form dips, suspensions, light injuries and off field controversies, Man United’s vaunted front three has failed to pick up where they left off last season. By the end of the 2019-2020 season, Rashford (22 goals), Greenwood (19 goals) and Anthony Martial (23 goals) scored a combined 64 goals in all competitions. Conversely, Martial had not scored in eight games prior to the Leipzig game and Greenwood was in and out of the lineup.

Greenwood

But for the first time this season, all three scored in the same game thus renewing confidence this trio is the future of United and should new recruits Ahmad Traore and Facundo Pellestri live up their pedigree, such excellence in attack would be sustained. After all, Greenwood has been tipped to make the transition from a winger to a central target man up front in the coming years. With Greenwood, Martial and Rashford on the right track, United should make good on a promising project to clinch titles and possibly end the seven year Premier League title drought this season. Exploiting the margins that came up in the matchup against Leipzig is the best way to make that happen.