Tag Archives: erik ten hag

Afterglow

During a season in which stand out moments have been largely absent, the climactic ending of the Liverpool FA Cup tie was an all-time classic that will never be forgotten. 2 weeks on and the sequence of events during extra time still haven’t quite sunk in, however I do possess a unsightly 50p-sized lump on my left shin as a memento of the day. To go from ‘season over’ to ‘Wembley bound’ in the space of 15 minutes was something I never saw coming and served as a reminder that football still retains the ability to make me deliriously happy on occasion. I just need to be mindful of the fact I’m no longer 15 years old and moderate my goal celebrations to something more befitting a man who turned 50 last year.

When the question of potentially leaving OT has come up in recent weeks, I’ve been pretty unequivocal about the fact I’d have no issue with moving into a state-of-the-art new build if it was located next door. Re-watching footage of Amad’s winner from 50 different camera angles has caused me to reconsider. Although I accept that OT needs a facelift, there’s no way it’s ‘falling down’ as the song claims. The key thing for me is, could the atmosphere of that Liverpool game be replicated in a shiny brand spanker built nearby? Whilst theoretically the answer is ‘yes’, the overwhelming likelihood is ‘no’ so I’m firmly in favour of staying put now, I’ve decided.

Indeed, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I reckon leaving OT would actually be a terrible idea. Sure, the Emirates and Spurs’ new grounds are visually impressive and have better facilities than their predecessors but they’re utterly bereft of soul – aesthetically pleasant enormodomes that have priced out the majority of people who frequented Highbury and White Hart Lane. OT 2.0 would be exactly the same. They aren’t going to follow the Allianz Arena model and make the thing affordable for all, it’ll just be a gigantic monument to football commercialism with a few cheesy adornments (hotel, ‘fan park’ etc) tacked on.

The main driver behind moving as opposed to re-developing OT is the club’s desire to maximise revenue from ticket sales. They hope to increase engagement with high spending football tourists whilst driving up prices until legacy supporters are in the minority. It’s a process that’s currently being repeated at several Premier League clubs. Most regulars just want to go and watch the game and couldn’t care less if there’s a McDonald’s or a Nando’s built adjacent to the ground. A bigger souvenir shop and a couple of beer tents aren’t going to help regenerate the area and enrich the local community, it’s just a convenient way of piggybacking on Trafford Council’s Wharfside development plans in the vain hope of securing additional public or private funding.

A new OT will be sold to us as something that’s necessary if United are going to compete at the very top again, but I’d argue that isn’t the case at all. Re-developing the current stadium does present significant challenges (the railway line being the most obvious), but if we’re talking £1billion+ budgets then I fail to see how building over it isn’t possible. If they extended the south stand, stuck a new roof on and re-did the concourses OT (no, honestly) could be the best ground in the country again within 5-10 years. They could even cover it in Bacofoil if they wanted to appease the e-reds and mimic the result of the recent Bernabeu refresh.

If we do leave OT it will be for something overpriced, over-budget and distinctly underwhelming once the initial novelty has worn off. Yes, a true “Wembley of the North” as promised. Expect season ticket prices to eclipse London levels and despite the multiple beers on offer, they’ll be ridiculously overpriced and I guarantee each sip will be tinged with regret for what we left behind. I’ve got no desire for a future consisting of chicken tenders, a choice of fries, vegan wraps, annoyingly loud speakers and an oversized scoreboard. Anyone actively in favour of any of this should be considered a menace.

The international break following the Liverpool game led to an outbreak of misplaced optimism and suggestions that the stirring comeback witnessed might turn out to be a turning point. Any such thoughts were obliterated after the Brentford game where the performance was truly one of the worst of the season. Once again, the midfield was an absolute shambles with the opposition given a free run on goal every time they gained possession. McTominay played for over 100 minutes and genuinely can’t have touched the ball more than a dozen times. It was excruciating to watch.

It wasn’t just him. Wan Bissaka had another of those games that makes you wonder if the coaching staff actually talk to the players at all. Rashford did that thing where he seems to be channeling Antonio Valencia when he receives the ball, ambles forward a few yards and then stops dead. And Bruno? My word. He’s always been a bit of a wildcard with his decision making but he’s now so erratic it’s like he’s taking a huge dose of psychedelics an hour before kick off. The Liverpool game was a beautifully bonkers sequence of the manager rolling consecutive sixes. Brentford was more indicative of the reality. We are utterly hopeless.

Most match-goers remain vaguely supportive of Ten Hag but if we’re being honest, the Brentford performance and his post-game admission they ‘wanted it more’ signal that he’s unlikely to last beyond the end of the season. Any lingering hopes of CL football have been extinguished and that’s been the minimum requirement for United managers hoping to survive post-Ferguson. I’m not certain anyone else could have done much better given what he inherited and the awful run of injuries this term, but ultimately we’ve gone backwards over the last 12 months and that’s on him.

Whilst I strongly suspect his departure is inevitable now, I’m still not convinced it would be the right thing to do. If there were obvious candidates to replace him I might see the logic in pulling the trigger, but names like Gareth Southgate and that bloke from Wolves don’t exactly fill me with any confidence. We have to accept there aren’t any quick fixes available and that the current re-build remains a work in progress. Another managerial reset benefits no one except some serial underachievers in the dressing room hoping for another stay of execution. Although it might seem a grim prospect at this precise moment, Ten Hag needs time and we need to be patient.

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Deja vu

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United is a soap opera at the best of times, but this last month played out as if there’s a team of behind-the-scenes scriptwriters devising the scarcely credible stream of calamities occurring on an almost daily basis. It’s been absolutely relentless. So much so that you’d be forgiven for thinking the much vaunted “cultural reset” that occurred during ETH’s first year in charge was somewhat overstated. One might even go as far to suggest that it could be time for another.

Firstly (and predictably) Mason Greenwood got shunted off to Getafe once the realisation hit that Arnold & Co weren’t going to be able to re-integrate him into the squad without causing a major PR stink. Quite how it took an internal investigation lasting several months to reach this conclusion I’ve no idea, given it was patently obvious from the moment that video started circulating he would never play for the club again. Naturally in taking an excruciatingly long time to make the decision (not to mention performing a u-turn en-route) United managed (also predictably) to score a PR own goal anyway. Absolutely brilliant work all round lads, well done.

Greenwood’s new employers wasted no time in confirming how they would handle any potential fallout caused by their new acquisition. Now you might think given his notoriety, a carefully worded statement exuding calm and sensitivity might be in order. Nope, scrub that. Instead, their socials manager demonstrated the composure of a 15 year old boy fresh off a 48 hour Fortnite bender, amped up on Prime and Strawberry Elf Bars. “Our guy Mase” was heralded in a stream of training ground pics as they revelled in the attention and hoovered up new followers on twitter. Still, if a few thousand “Starboy” apologists have now switched allegiances to Getafe this could turn out to be a positive thing.

During the post-mortem that followed defeat at the Emirates, it was revealed that Jadon Sancho had been omitted from the squad following sub-par performances in training that week. It comes as no surprise to learn he isn’t cutting it during practice sessions given his underwhelming contribution to the vast majority of games he’s appeared in over the last 2 years. Indeed, such is the player’s complete lack of impact at United, Ten Hag’s interview was the first time it occurred to me that he hadn’t featured that day. Normally you’d expect a player to take a public dressing down on the chin and vow to improve. Unfortunately not, as nothing emitting from the confines of Carrington can be described as normal at present.

In his infinite wisdom, Sancho took to twitter to refute the allegations, claiming “I have been a scapegoat for a long time.” I’m not certain if this broadside was aimed solely at Ten Hag, given that he’s only the latest in a number of managers and coaches to question the player’s discipline and take umbrage at his timekeeping. One can only assume being granted a 3 month leave of absence last season to work on his fitness levels was a part of this scapegoating process as well? Poor misunderstood Jadon.

Given this occurred at the start of the international break, Sancho had ample opportunity to sort this out quietly but you figured something was amiss when he was pictured at some event in NYC a couple of days later. Nothing was resolved at a Carrington summit meeting scheduled for the following Monday, so the club then issued a statement announcing the player would be training alone for the foreseeable, “pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.” Cool. Quite honestly, I don’t require any further updates to this story as I’ve heard enough already. See you later, sunshine – don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

The next bombshell to drop concerned Antony and allegations of domestic abuse that first surfaced in South America a few months back. The story gained traction after a couple more women presented evidence to the media, leading to him being dropped from the Brazilian national squad. United responded by granting him an indefinite leave of absence, so in the space of 4 days we were now £150M-worth of highly erratic wingers down. Ten Hag must have felt some relief at his own baldness at this point, otherwise I’m certain he would’ve been pulling his hair out.

Away from all the off-the-pitch shenanigans, match days have provided little respite. Numerous mitigating factors have conspired against us so far. A full blown injury crisis, key players out of form and some refereeing shockers haven’t helped, but it’s not overly critical to state that it’s been a fairly abysmal start to the season. A fortuitous win over Wolves (masking the fact that we were outplayed for long stretches) and a stirring comeback after being 0-2 down to Forest after 4 minutes being the only highlights. Aside from that, it’s been grim viewing for the most part.

The point has been made before, but it’s pretty clear that prioritising lucrative exhibition games and racking up thousands of air miles ahead of proper pre-season training is terrible preparation for a fresh campaign. Every opponent faced so far has looked fit, fresh and hungry whereas United have struggled to maintain focus and intensity for 90 minutes. We start brightly enough, miss a couple of sitters, concede and then capitulate completely. It’s all becoming a bit predictable. Rinse and repeat.

I’m duty-bound to give a nod to the Glazers for their role in this mess, so shoutout to them too for ensuring new faces rock up at the last possible moment leaving no time to integrate them into the squad. The fact that a club of United’s size has to rely on loan signings at all is quite ridiculous, yet here we are again with Sergio Reguilon arriving on deadline day to go straight in as first choice left-back. Don’t even get me started on the options available at right-back, where you’ve got the equally abysmal Wan Bissaka and Dalot competing in their weekly “who’s looking the least shit to ensure selection” duel.

There’s little doubt that once we get some players back and things settle down, results will start to improve. Unfortunately, that’s going to take some time and until then the noise surrounding the club and pressure is only going to intensify. Plugging the omnipresent leaks and driving out malignant dressing room influences remains an ongoing process and there’s no quick fix. As I’m sure the manager is quite aware by now, this is just how it is at Manchester United. Clearly, the quickest way to end this current “crisis” is to start winning football matches again. Turning this around in the next few weeks is Ten Hag’s biggest test so far.

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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Despite a couple of disappointing results in the few weeks, it’s hard not to feel quite enthused about all things United at present. For the first time since the upturn in form at the beginning of Solskjaer’s tenure we’re seeing real progress on the pitch. The contrast with what we witnessed throughout the entirety of last season is stark, with the team looking motivated, players committed and the crowd in full support as opposed to disengaged. What we’ve seen since the resumption after the World Cup has exceeded pretty much all expectations; going to Old Trafford is something to look forward to again and no longer feels like a chore.

Whilst the players deserve much of the credit, the architect of this has been the manager. The more I hear him speak, the more I like him. No histrionics, no emoting, no fuss – he’s just quietly cracking on with the biggest job in football under unparalleled scrutiny and crucially, getting the big decisions right. Showing faith in Rashford, ruthlessly cutting Maguire and catapulting Ronaldo into the footballing wilderness were each huge calls, but they have quickly paid dividends and results speak for themselves. Both Martinez and Casemiro (much to Graeme Souness’ chagrin no doubt) are proving to be fantastic signings.

We’re still a way off being the finished article, but all evidence points to the fact that Ten Hag knows what needs to be done and has plans in place to achieve this. If the club wasn’t up for sale we might have been in position to pick up a better option than Wout Weghorst to supplement the attack in the short term. Unfortunately, loan signings from Burnley are indicative of the financial reality facing the club as it seeks new investors or ownership. It’s doubly frustrating as the likelihood is that 80-odd points will win the league this season and we aren’t far off that target. 2 or 3 more key additions and this team could have been genuine title contenders.

The football world is always a much nicer place when Blues’ heads are falling off and after defeat in the recent derby, there were more fantastic scenes following the release of their lengthy rap sheet at the conclusion of the Premier League’s 4 year investigation into City’s financial affairs. Reactions to this were mixed from those of my acquaintance, some are unmoved and find it all very amusing whereas others are extremely twitchy, aware that the consequences of a guilty verdict could be far-reaching. Vincent Kompany may well roll his eyes and Guardiola can blame everyone else for their predicament, but the evidence available in the public domain looks to be damning.

Whether or not Manchester City ever actually receive punishment remains a moot point. We live in a country where people with wealth and power routinely evade justice for circumventing financial laws and regulations. Football has functioned within its own peculiar bubble for years and club owners are well versed in acting with financial impunity without sanction. City’s statement claiming they were “surprised” by the charges isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds. As far as they’re concerned they’re just playing the lucky hand they’ve been dealt in a game that’s been rigged for decades.

Irrespective of whether anything comes of these particular charges, whilst football club ownership rules remain anything but “fit and proper” the game is only likely to face similar issues in future. Arab states, Russian oligarchs and US-based venture capitalists should never have been allowed to take control of 100+ year old community assets. City’s alleged transgressions are just the latest consequence of the Premier League and the FA deliberately choosing to look the other way and give tacit approval to unscrupulous foreign investors. The current mess wouldn’t require cleaning up if they’d maintained a semblance of common sense and integrity instead of welcoming these suitors in the first place.

You would assume that with results improving there might be a drop off in the toxic bile spewed out by certain MUFC-affiliated content providers on social media. You’d be wrong. Harmony and positivity doesn’t tend to drive clicks so instead it’s full speed ahead with the usual attention-seeking knobhead agenda. Having declared war against Harry Maguire last season they’re having to dream up new scapegoats now and the latest, incredibly, is Alejandro Garnacho. A couple of less than stellar performances and he’s deemed “shit” and written off completely. Now I’m aware I’m also guilty of the odd knee-jerk reaction but this is taking the piss when talking about an 18 year old kid who’s made a great impact so far this season.

I’m aware I’d be better served by not getting wound up by these people and their grift. I’m not their target audience and I could choose to simply ignore them. However, their very existence is a stain on the club and it’s support. I don’t like these people speaking as United fans on a public platform because they aren’t representative of United fans and they know nothing of our history and culture beyond what they’re read on the internet or seen on television. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were left to fester on their own YouTube channel but they’re now permeating the mainstream with the likes of SSN providing an outlet that further legitimises their bullshit. You know what I mean, fam?

The weirdest sub-section of United online fandom are undoubtedly the twitter users who faithfully kept the Mason Greenwood flying throughout the duration of his absence over the last 12 months. Barely a week went by without seeing his name trending, with huge numbers of predominately overseas-based reds parroting their support and demanding their “starboy” be welcomed back with open arms. News that the CPS has dropped all charges last month sent these lads into overdrive. Apparently with Greenwood back and under Ten Hag’s tutelage, United would soon be “cooking”, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

The club obviously has a decision to make over the coming months. There’s a lot to consider but it’s difficult to see any conclusion to this sorry episode other than Greenwood leaving at the end of the season. United is a commercial behemoth in thrall to multiple commercial partners, and that’s before you start to consider the opinions of individual stakeholders and how they might feel about implicit support for a player initially charged with attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. There’s a decision to be made here, certainly – but it’s very clear what needs to happen.

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