Questions were asked of Erik ten Hag in the wake of Manchester United’s 6-3 humbling at the hands of Manchester City on Sunday. Not as many as his predecessor used to receive. Ten Hag’s greater experience and the fact his tenure is still young have spared him the abuse Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would get from fans. But still, the Dutchman found himself under intense scrutiny after a chastening defeat at the Etihad.
The headline query was a familiar one: why did Ten Hag not see fit to play Cristiano Ronaldo? Marcus Rashford started ahead of the 37-year-old, which has been common practice this season. But the fact Ronaldo did not come on at all when his side were behind invited criticism. It feels misplaced considering the player that did come on up front, Anthony Martial, bagged two goals and drove United through their best period of the game. Ronaldo’s name and profile will always invite coverage, but this seemed like one of the big calls that Ten Hag got right on a day when everything seemed to go wrong.
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Another omission appeared to have a greater bearing on the outcome. While it is hard to envision Ronaldo scoring the extra four goals United needed to secure a win on Sunday, his former Real Madrid colleague Casemiro would surely have helped stem the blue tide. Scott McTominay was chosen ahead of the Brazilian due to his superior form. The Scotland international had been playing some of his best football in years. But the extra layer of defensive security a player like Casemiro offers was sorely lacking during the first-half shellacking.
Casemiro is yet to truly dazzle in a Manchester United shirt but his experience and quality perhaps warranted a start against City. The midfielder is used to duking it out with the best teams in the world, having lifted the Champions League five times. That extra guile and acumen would have been invaluable considering the quality City had on show. Would Erling Haaland and Phil Foden have been allowed the freedom of Manchester with Casemiro on the field?
Of course that is part of the issue. Can anyone truly stop Haaland at his best? The Norway international has 14 goals in 8 Premier League games since moving to the champions. Haaland’s hat-trick against the Red Devils was his third in the Premier League. The previous fastest player to three Premier League hat-tricks was Michael Owen, who took 40 more games to do it. Did United just run into arguably the world’s best striker in his utterly untouchable pomp?
There is no doubt United left gaps for him and Foden to exploit. They were also wasteful in possession. There are elements of blame to be laid throughout a team that just did not turn up in earnest until the second half. But the difference between a defeat and a thrashing was the imperious Haaland. He is the sort of player you cannot legislate for. Like United’s dominator-turned-benchwarmer Ronaldo used to be, Haaland is such a force that it feels almost unfair to judge the Ten Hag project against his unreachable standards.
This is the key thing. There was universal agreement that Ten Hag needed time to repair this troubled team. The decline of the Solskjaer age and the folly of the Ralf Rangnick misstep have left the club in ruins. A shaky start to this season gave way to an impressive run of results. Wins over Liverpool and Arsenal in particular had some observers thinking United had pulled themselves out of their slump. Losing two out of three games since, including a surprise defeat at home to Real Sociedad, has served as a timely reminder that there is still a long way to go.
The best thing Ten Hag can do is endure. The former Ajax boss needs to honour his long-term pan for United rather than be swayed by the winds of change. Results like a 6-3 drubbing from Man City will happen, particular now they have Haaland to call on. Limp displays in the Europa, as against Sociedad, are not necessarily harbingers of doom either. There is clearly a plan here for Ten Hag. He must succeed where more reactive United coaches like Solskjaer and Rangnick failed. He can do that by sticking to his vision in a way those two never did.
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