Manchester United are teetering dangerously close to the crisis precipice they have so often inhabited in the last decade.
One season into the Erik ten Hag era, there was optimism at Old Trafford that the Red Devils were moving in the right direction again. They’d sustained some heavy blows but ended the Dutchman’s maiden campaign with a top-three Premier League finish and a trophy to boot.
Ten games into the 2023/24 season, his hard work is unravelling at the seams. United have lost six matches already, face an uphill battle to reach the Champions League knockout stages and have been rocked by plenty of off-field issues.
They return to Premier League action on Saturday at home to Brentford, who have struggled to turn expected-goals into actual-real-goals without Ivan Toney in recent weeks.
United were utterly abysmal – save for the performance of Rasmus Hojlund – in Tuesday’s defeat to Galatasaray. Here’s what Ten Hag can do to reverse their recent fortunes.
The sample size is small and he’s still getting used to his new surroundings and teammates, but early signs suggest Mason Mount is not the pivot player United thought he could be.
He scarcely played there during his days at Chelsea. Though primarily a number ten, many of his better performances for the Blues came from the right – a problem position for this iteration of United.
Club captain and star player Bruno Fernandes was wasted in that role against Galatasaray and should almost exclusively start in his preferred position in the hole.
Antony should not start for a multitude of reasons. The position really ought to be Mount’s to lose.
There was a period at the start of the second half against Galatasaray where United threatened to run away with it.
At the heart of those efforts was the playmaking of Christian Eriksen, who was able to spread play at will and pull the visitors apart with his range of passing.
Brentford are likely to sit in at Old Trafford and invite pressure for much of the afternoon. If United want to break down another deep block, they’ll need Eriksen on that pitch to alleviate the burden on Mount and Fernandes.
Needs-must, survival of the fittest, et cetera et cetera. United have been pulled too-and-fro by their injury crisis this season.
Three left-backs – including Sergio Reguilon, signed on loan as emergency cover on transfer deadline day – have been missing through injury lately and remain unavailable for the visit of Brentford.
The solution cannot be placing Sofyan Amrabat in that position, though, with the Moroccan dragged all over the place by Galatasaray’s assortment of tricky forwards on Tuesday.
Ten Hag has seemingly been asking the Moroccan to step into midfield in conjunction with the natural tasks of a left-back, but this was exposed greatly in their most recent loss – an astute tactician like Thomas Frank will have noticed this and conjured a plan to attack this weakness.
If there is another option available to start at right-back, Diogo Dalot should be on the left for the time being. At least he understands how an inverted full-back should balance their responsibilities.
At the risk of falling into trapped cliches and pub talk, United could do with their players running around a bit and showing some desire for the badge.
Hojlund has led by example since his arrival from Atalanta, putting his physicality to excellent use and looking like the club’s most capable number nine in a long while.
He can’t carry the burden alone, however. Marcus Rashford – the main proponent as to why Ten Hag’s system worked last season – has not carried himself with the same intensity this term, let alone lacking the magic and stardust which saw him grab 30 goals in all competitions.
This is a two-fold problem which falls back Ten Hag, however. The players are not fit enough to play at full capacity for 90 minutes and they have not responded to his instructions in the same way. That has to change or Brentford will be the next side to run riot at Old Trafford.
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