Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag and his players are under the spotlight having wobbled following a promising return from the international break.
After Old Trafford witnessed a disappointing 1-1 draw with FC Twente in Wednesday’s Europa League opener, the PA news agency has taken a look at their start to the season.
How have things gone so far?
A sense of positivity around performances, a revamped structure and smart-looking signings has quickly faded. United showed promise against Manchester City in the Community Shield and bounced back from that penalty shoot-out loss with a late 1-0 win against Fulham in the Premier League curtain raiser.
But things then went awry as a late 2-1 loss at Brighton was compounded by a 3-0 home hammering by Liverpool. Ten Hag’s side responded after an uncomfortable international break with a 3-0 win at promoted Southampton and 7-0 Carabao Cup thumping of third tier Barnsley, but momentum changes quickly at United.
Saturday’s 0-0 stalemate at Crystal Palace was frustrating and the Europa League draw with Twente – the lowest-ranked side in terms of UEFA coefficients that they are hosting – set alarm bells ringing again.
What happened on Wednesday?
Boyhood Twente fan Ten Hag said on the eve of the Old Trafford encounter that “it’s not nice to have to hurt something you love.” As it happens, they ended up damaging him as Christian Eriksen followed his thumping opener with an error that allowed Sam Lammers to seal a 1-1 draw for Twente.
United lost their way in the second half and have now won just one of their last nine European matches, which came at home to Copenhagen in last year’s Champions League and required Andre Onana’s stoppage-time penalty save.
Across all competitions this season they have three victories to show from their first eight matches – a drop from five recorded in Ten Hag’s first campaign and four last term.
What is going wrong at United?
United have had a knack of moving forward only to stumble back since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Life under Ten Hag has followed a similar pattern, with an inability to take their chances dogging his side.
They may have scored 10 without reply in their two matches after the international break, but that cannot mask a long-standing issue when it comes to a lack of cutting edge. Ten Hag felt United “ate Crystal Palace alive” on Saturday, yet they failed to score any of their 15 shots.
They have scored five times across five Premier League games despite having an excepted goals figure of 10.21, then on Wednesday the toothless Red Devils scored just one of their 18 attempts against Twente.
Ten Hag will be hoping summer signing Joshua Zirkzee soon finds his feet and Rasmus Hojlund can hit the ground running having returned from injury.
Defensively they have looked better despite United still being without a fit out-and-out left-back, but mentality remains a reoccurring issue. Experienced midfielder Eriksen said Twente “looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right” – a viewpoint Ten Hag agreed with.
The United boss repeatedly spoke about the need to kill games like against Twente but acknowledged he has “to look in the mirror as well”.
What is the situation with Ten Hag?
Last season’s FA Cup win against Manchester City was the bright point in a miserable campaign that saw United record their lowest Premier League finish of eighth.
May’s Wembley triumph secured European qualification and – after much deliberation by ambitious Ineos – Ten Hag the chance to lead United into a third season.
The Dutchman is quick to point to the fact he has won trophies in both campaigns at United, but he can ill afford many more bumps in the road.
The Red Devils are a team in transition but the eye-watering injury list from last season has largely cleared, while Ineos has helped to bring in a better structure that he had before.
Ten Hag is fourth favourite with bookmakers to be the next top-flight boss to leave their post.
What comes next for United?
An unenviable run awaits before October’s international break.
United return to Old Trafford to face Tottenham in the Premier League this Sunday, before Thursday’s trip to Porto – the toughest Europa League fixture they face in the group phase.
A return to Premier League action at impressive Aston Villa rounds things off before a fortnight break that United need to go into with a sense of positivity.
