Manchester United enter huge week stuck in endless cycle
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In a roundabout way, the uncertainty around Manchester United has given Erik ten Hag some assurance in the build-up to a decisive week. No major decision-making is expected until the Ineos situation is fully resolved. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is also known to have been an admirer of Ten Hag in the past, and the prospective new football staff want to fully assess the structure of the club before any big calls. Ten Hag, then, is highly unlikely to lose his job any time soon.
There is always the danger that events – or, really, results – can go out of control, though. This week looks like it has real potential for that.
On Tuesday, United face Bayern Munich at Old Trafford, requiring both a win and Copenhagen vs Galatasaray to end up a draw. That doesn’t just carry the danger of a moment as deflating for the season as yet another early Champions League exit. There is also the real risk of another humiliation after the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth. Bayern themselves lost 5-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt in shocking fashion on Saturday and, while that might usually give cause for hope against vulnerable opposition, it almost has the opposite effect here. With Bayern already through and first in the group, that might have made them more forgiving opposition. They instead have a huge point to prove, especially after a season of inconsistency so far.
There are few points bigger than winning at Old Trafford. Or, at least, given what happened at the weekend, there used to be. On Sunday, it’s a trip to resurgent Liverpool. They destroyed United 7-0 in the same fixture last season, and there is a growing argument it was that stunning result that might have proven a structural blow to Ten Hag’s entire reign. Such a humiliation came just at a point when United were building a new confidence after the Carabao Cup final win. They have barely put in a convincing performance since, although injuries are among many caveats to that.
Last week’s win against Chelsea looked a first strong step back, especially after the reports of dressing-room problems in the build-up to the game. That only made it all the more remarkable that United would suffer such extreme regression in a home game against opposition as modest as Bournemouth.
It somehow got worse. And yet, judging from the week ahead, it can still get worse again. Aside from how significant Liverpool vs United was last season, there is a symbolism in how it was also that fixture at this time of year that ended Jose Mourinho’s tenure in 2018.
A 3-1 defeat at Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool spelt the end of Jose Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford
Here we are back around again. The cycle keeps going, each time more intense, the tantalising prospect that problems had been solved only serving to make the pain more acute.
This is why even an announcement from Ineos is so badly needed. It is as much to break the cycle, for the promise of something different.
As it is, it’s remarkable how we’re back to the same themes and the same performances.
United are seeking to prevent a fifth early exit in the Champions League out of six campaigns. Only once since 2014 has one of the competition's wealthiest clubs got past the last 16.
They are once more in this situation because of how they play, and not just in a literal sense of playing badly and losing games.
Figures who work in the club and are broadly supportive of Ten Hag are increasingly puzzled by how he wants the team to play. This was a manager who was partly appointed based on ideology but he doesn’t seem to have a clear sense of it. It is instead back to the days of Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, when the collective ceded control to the opposition and the team was dependent on individual inspiration. Sure, Marcus Rashford or Bruno Fernandes might produce respite in single games. It just wasn’t long until they were back around to the next bad spell.
The many people who still back Ten Hag say part of this is because he has inherited the remnants of so many previous managers and the squad is so top-heavy. That is also one reason why it is a challenge of a much bigger scale to impose an ideology on a team like United rather than, say, Bournemouth.
The likes of Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes have been unable to provide consistent enough moments of brilliance to save United
It also makes that game against Bournemouth all the more galling. It wasn’t just the result but the nature of it.
Even allowing for the different scales of the clubs, how is it that a manager like Andoni Iraola can have a team playing to such a clearer idea, so much more quickly? And this was after a bad start where it looked like a quick sacking was inevitable. Bournemouth kept faith in Iraola because the Basque was unflinching on his tactical principles. He has been rewarded with results.
An obvious response is that shows why United must do the same. Except, it’s not like Ten Hag has been unflinching on tactical principles. What tactical principles?
This has fed into the confusion. So many personnel decisions appear to make little sense, at least from the outside. Like under Mourinho, players are suddenly in, then they are out. And Anthony Martial still has such a prominent role?
What of Raphael Varane? His absence when fit has led to growing speculation that there must have been some fall-out between the French World Cup winner and Ten Hag. It is apparently nothing of the sort.
Ten Hag just doesn’t think he can play as the left-sided centre-half and gets caught in possession there too often. It is believed the team works better with Harry Maguire there. While the England centre-half deserves huge praise for his displays and the resolve to force his way back into the team, a fair question is what exactly about this works better for the team?
United have conceded three or more goals in nine matches so far this season and it’s only the second week of December.
Along the same lines, it’s remarkable that a manager who had previously been seen as making progress has had a series of outright humiliations. Real shockers. It makes the David Moyes season, itself such a landmark for the club, now seem fairly tame.
The mysterious case of Raphael Varane continues
Just count them up. There was the 4-0 to Brentford, the 6-3 at Manchester City, the Liverpool 7-0, the 2-0 at Newcastle United, the 3-0 at Sevilla, the 3-0 at home to City, the 1-0 at Newcastle, this season’s entire Champions League group and now the 3-0 against Bournemouth.
This is another danger with Tuesday’s Bayern Munich match. Thomas Tuchel’s team could well score more than three.
It only reflects how circular everything is, though, that one of the potential positives going into this huge game is that Ten Hag’s complete lack of a system might serve United well. If they can’t impose such an approach as well as Bayern, then it’s better to just go in the opposite direction.
It’s still a stretch, though. It’s a bigger stretch to think United will get through the group and get through this week without more crisis headlines.
There is at least a resolve. Ten Hag’s side have never completely buckled. They have so far bounced back from each of those humiliations to offer some optimism.
We might well see that here. They might well do something improbable.
This is already something of an improbable situation, though. As we go into this last-ever week of the classic Champions League group stage, there is a clear view of one of the problems that is leading to change. As many as 13 of the last 16 places are already settled, and 12 of those have been filled by the wealthiest clubs in the groups. The only anomalies are PSV Eindhoven over Sevilla, one of Paris Saint-Germain or Newcastle United going out and – yes – Manchester United.
It shouldn't even be possible really. And yet, here they are, aiming for a great escape. It would still feel like so much more is needed to escape this cycle.
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