If Manchester United supporters were hoping that Erik ten Hag could make them feel better about their side following a 3-0 home derby loss to Manchester City at Old Trafford, we have a feeling they are set for disappointment.
The embattled Manchester United boss could only explain what went wrong, and did little to detail his puzzling pre-game and in-game decisions that saw Raphael Varane benched and a too-late double sub of Anthony Martial and Antony in attack.
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He even admitted there was nothing those moves were going to do other than limit the damage.
At Old Trafford. In a Manchester derby.
“You try to get more offensive but at the end we worked very hard,” Ten Hag said. “You bring new energy in but it’s not possible to change the game at that point, 3-nil down with five minutes to play. You just bring the energy to not getting anything worse.”
Ten Hag struggles to supply confident answers after loss
Ten Hag’s post-match answers were directed toward what he believed to be a good first half, one that saw Manchester United down 1-0 on an Erling Haaland penalty.
That first half saw chances for Rasmus Hojlund and Scott McTominay but they amounted to a total of 0.29 xG. City, meanwhile, had 61% of the ball, 1.54 xG, and a 7-4 edge in shots. Four of them were on target and Andre Onana made two massive interventions to keep United within one.
“We are down,” Ten Hag acknowledged. “We played a good first half. Of course we will be disappointed and annoyed but tomorrow we will be there and have energy.”
“Second half, at 2-0. You have to go against them out of shape. If you don’t they will find the spare man. They did. They made a great goal but we have to get better organized.”
Ten Hag not the problem, but stubborn streak hurting Manchester United
It seems crazy to discuss whether Ten Hag can have success at Manchester United given that we’re just a half-year removed from the ex-Ajax boss driving his club to the League Cup, an FA Cup Final, and a comfortable third-place finish.
But he took big risks on Sunday in a huge game — one of few that can really change the tenor of a season — and most of them went about as poorly as possible.
Look — the non-contender status is way more about the players at Man United than the coach, but today’s errors were unforced and came from the boss.
- Raphael Varane was left out of the side for Harry Maguire and/or Jonny Evans
- Sergio Reguilon sat in favor of Victor Lindelof at left back
- Also kept out of the XI: Combined $175 men Mason Mount and Antony
- Jadon Sancho is still ‘learning lessons’ away from the team.
And given that Ten Hag also asserted that the “game plan went off,” his stubborn streak seems set to continue into midweek and beyond. One would have to hope that Varane, Mount, and Antony were not at full fitness because if they were, what more does it say about his choices?
So why not consider a manager change? Well, start with the fact that any new chef needs new ingredients and, with plenty of respect to Scott McTominay’s late heroics, United only has one game changer playing at a high level and that’s Bruno Fernandes. Varane is great, Casemiro was fantastic last season, and Marcus Rashford is a game changer when firing, but he just isn’t doing that right now.
Yes, Antony is Ten Hag’s guy — one of his big swings — but the Red Devils clearly overpaid massively to get him. Andre Onana was fantastic on Sunday but has not been an improvement on David De Gea yet. Mason Mount’s price tag was always humorously-high. The defense will look much better when healthy but the defense is neither shutting out City nor scoring two goals on the champs.
So, sadly for United fans, this is going to require more patience. And that’s not an attractive proposition after getting punked in your own building.