Until now, the last time Manchester United lost six of their opening 10 games in a season was 1986. Manager Ron Atkinson made it to early November before being dismissed after five years in the job, replaced by Alex Ferguson, then manager of top Scottish side Aberdeen.
United felt Atkinson had taken his eye off the ball.
There have been zero suggestions Erik ten Hag has taken his eye off the ball in the early weeks of this season or that his job is in danger. And that’s exactly how it should be.
United are off to an atrocious start and the manager must take some blame for that. He’s going through his roughest patch since he was appointed in June 2022, but while the mood is on the floor among fans, during three hours of standing outside Old Trafford on Tuesday night I didn’t hear a single person suggest that Ten Hag should go.
The Dutchman’s stock has taken a whack in recent weeks, understandably so, but United need to stick by a man who did well in his first year and made a succession of difficult calls over problems not of his making.
Ten Hag couldn’t come up with solutions against Galatasaray (Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images)
Managing United is difficult. You’re working for owners who are despised by the supporters and have given no clarity 11 months after announcing a strategic review. Although Ten Hag and his team should still be doing better than losing six in 10 and conceding 18 goals in the process. He’s been backed to bring in the players he wants and United have spent a lot on transfers.
Another six defeats in the next 10 matches and you would worry for his job.
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Ten Hag hasn’t made any excuses but he’s not once been able to pick his strongest XI this season, because 16 first-team players have been unavailable with injury or illness, including his four new signings. Add on Antony due to his leave of absence and Jadon Sancho for disciplinary reasons.
The defence has been hit harder than any other area, with three left-backs now out and a fourth, Diogo Dalot, playing at right-back because his only other right-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, is injured too. United are stuck with right-footed midfielder Sofyan Amrabat playing left-back. And it shows.
Missing so many players also makes it very hard to identify with whatever style of football Ten Hag is trying to get going.
Against Galatasaray on Tuesday, United looked like a counter-attacking side. Against Crystal Palace three days earlier, it was a home team who struggled to break down their opponents.
Galatasaray celebrate their victory at Old Trafford (Michael Regan via Getty Images)
While nobody they’ve played so far has dominated United, they are hardly impressive and I’m reminded of a quote from Sevilla coach Jose Luis Mendilibar last season, who said, “It’s true that against (Manchester) United, as soon as you put pressure on them, they start to struggle”, after his team had come from 2-0 down to draw at Old Trafford and then won 3-0 at home to knock United out of Europe. Again.
United’s inability to finish off teams when they are on top is worrying, as is the mentality when things go against them — such as the panic that appears to set in if they concede a goal.
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And it’s not just the defeats. Right from the first half of their first game of the season at home to Wolves, it was alarming to watch the visitors cut through United’s midfield. Wolves somehow lost 1-0 that night. Against Nottingham Forest two weeks later, United were 2-0 down inside four alarming minutes but managed to come back for a 3-2 win. In the next home match, it was Brighton who won, doing something no visiting team had managed in a year at Old Trafford. Palace and Galatasaray have followed.
United do start most games well and performed creditably in lengthy passages of meetings with top opponents including Tottenham, Arsenal and Bayern Munich, all of them away. There are no trophies for that, though, and United eventually lost those three matches. However, a team who have beaten all the top Premier League sides at Old Trafford since Ten Hag took charge haven’t just turned into a mid-table one.
Caveats aside, Ten Hag should not be immune from criticism. I’m as doubtful about some of his expensive Ajax-heavy signings as most, but any knee-jerk urge to dismiss the man who oversaw them would be just that. Ten Hag did a top job as manager of Ajax and, in time and with the right tools, can do the same at United. Manchester City fancied him when they were worried Pep Guardiola might not sign a new contract.
Ten Hag still has stock with the fans because he was a relative success last season in finishing an unlikely third, winning the club’s first trophy in six years and reaching the FA Cup final.
United also knocked Barcelona out of Europe last season, and the first leg of that tie at the Camp Nou was their most convincing performance on the road under him. But there’s been a clear tailing-off since that 2-2 draw in February — United simply don’t win away, or against decent sides, these days.
Ten Hag steered United to a trophy earlier this year (Julian Finney via Getty Images)
That credit and goodwill from fans is still in the bank. When Ten Hag walks out at Old Trafford, he’s applauded by the Stretford End and he responds in a sabre-rattling, fist-pumping manner. Angry online algorithms may suggest otherwise but he’s still got the moderate majority onside.
I can pinpoint the games when some previous United managers lost the majority of the match-going support inside the stadium: Sevilla in 2018 started the slide for Jose Mourinho; Aston Villa and Everton at home sunk Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Ten Hag isn’t there yet, there is no precipice that he’s standing over. He needs a change in fortune, more of his best players back, and some wins.
He’s got three-quarters of the season left to right the wrongs, just as Mourinho did in 2016-17, when United had a run of one league win in eight matches but went on to win the League Cup and Europa League, the latter securing Champions League football for the following season.
Ten Hag needs a similar turnaround.
Yes, it’s hard to see where it’s coming from right now amid the despondency and doom, but it can happen.
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(Top photo: Michael Regan via Getty Images)
