Where did it all go wrong for Erik Ten Hag in Manchester?

Erik Ten Hag was hired with great fanfare in 2022 following a fantastic spell at Ajax that included a Champions League semi-final and three Eredivisie titles. Now, just under two years on, his Manchester United future seems in doubt, so where did it all go wrong? All stats and figures provided by TransferMarkt unless otherwise stated.

When Ten Hag was hired, the Manchester United website released a statement from John Murtough, the club's Football Director, reading, “Erik has proved himself to be one of the most exciting and successful coaches in Europe, renowned for his team’s attractive, attacking football and commitment to youth.”

Ten Hag swung for the fences during his first transfer window at Old Trafford, raiding his old club for Lisandro Martinez (€57.37m/£56.7m/$61.66m), and Anthony (€95.00m/£85/$100.3m), whilst also adding Tyrell Malacia (€15.00m/£12.9m/$16.1m) and Christian Eriksen (free). His biggest signing was Casemiro from Real Madrid (€70.65m), adding some steel and nouse to the centre of the pitch.

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Sky Sports analyst Jamie Carragher famously claimed Martinez (1.75m/5’9”) was too small to play in the Premier League as a centre-back before United lost 4-0 away to Brentford. He was later forced to apologise for his comments as Martinez proved successful during his first season in England, but the timing of the initial comments seemed ominous.

Following a disastrous start, Ten Hag’s team seemed to have turned a corner, as an Opta article from January 2023 notes, “he has done an unbelievable job, far exceeding what anyone anticipated in year one of the rebuild.”

Following the aforementioned loss to Brentford, Ten Hag told journalists, “It’s naive, how we played today, you have to play more direct,” which is exactly what they started to do, with great effect. As Opta notes, at the halfway point of the 2022/23 season United were top of the direct attack list with 51 and joint top of the through-ball rankings with 48, and it seemed to be working.

Ten Hag had initially attempted to reproduce his Ajax style at United. He soon learned a control-based Pep Guardiola-style wouldn’t work with the players at his disposal. Instead, he changed his ways with his attacking players taking fewer touches before unleashing shots, per Opta.

Despite these changes, Ten Hag’s United still struggled for control, which has become key to so many successful modern teams, this was in part to his players’ struggles, but also, Ten Hag’s choice. Opta describes Ten Hag’s decision to, “embrace the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer methods of deep-lying, counter-attacking football in big matches,” not the Manchester United style of old.

Despite United’s flaws during the 2022/23 season, they were a solid team, with Ten Hag laying the foundations for the style he wanted to play, but not sacrificing results to do so. A third-place finish in the Premier League plus a League Cup win and FA Cup runners-up medal is nothing to be laughed at.

United entered the 2023 summer transfer window with a clear need to improve in multiple positions. Goalkeeper, midfield and striker were the priorities and Ten Hag et al. moved to sign big-name players in each spot. Andre Onana (€50.20m/£43.8m/$57.3m), Mason Mount (€64.20m/£55m/$69m), and Rasmus Hojlund (€73.90m/£64m/$82m) were added to bolster United’s squad.

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Despite United’s new signings and Ten Hag having a year of Premier League experience under his belt, the 2023/24 season did not start well. By match week 10, United sat in eighth with just 15 points and a -5 goal difference following a heavy defeat to Manchester City.

United followed their terrible start with a solid run, winning four out of their next five to move up to fifth. However, a 0-3 loss to Bournemouth at Old Trafford suggested the cracks were beginning to show.

Every club in professional football struggles with injuries, but Ten Hag’s United side has seemingly been dealt a rough hand. At various points throughout the season, they have been missing their top-six center-back options, per Premier Injuries.

That offers Ten Hag an easy way out, when, in reality, he has been unable to consistently manufacture a workable defensive game plan. Per Sky Sports, United have conceded 81 goals in all competitions this season, their worst record since 1976/77.

Nothing sums up Ten Hag’s issues more than the four-goal defeat away to Crystal Palace. Palace are a good side and United were forced into playing Casemiro as an auxiliary centre-back, but the performance was abject. Following the match, Ten Hag said, “They didn't bring it on the pitch. We got hammered,”, it is never a good sign when managers start blaming their players.

The defeat was such, that Jamie Carragher went so far as to call United, “one of the most poorly coached teams in the Premier League.” A brutal summation of how far and how quickly Ten Hag’s team has slipped.

TEAMTalk and Sky Germany are reporting United are already looking to move on from Ten Hag, with Thomas Tuchel seen as a viable replacement. If it is to end this quickly, it will be difficult to argue against. What once offered such promise failed to deliver with any regularity. A team seemingly falling apart at the seams, Ten Hag’s reign has left little positivity in Manchester.

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