Erik ten Hag has not subjected Manchester United’s squad to a video nasty. Or not this particular one, anyway. Ten Hag can show his players clips from previous games; he used footage from their win over Chelsea to prepare for Bayern Munich. Revisiting March’s 7-0 thrashing at Anfield, however, is not on his agenda. “I don’t think it’s the right thing [to do],” the United manager said. “Last year, it was the past. What we can change is the future.”
Both the past and the future have a pertinence, however, as Ten Hag returns to the scene of United’s heaviest ever defeat to Liverpool. Nine months ago, he had a team in ripe form, one that had won a trophy a week earlier. He had a fit Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez, but both will miss the rematch. He had Bruno Fernandes available, but now his captain is suspended. He had Marcus Rashford in such form that the forward went to Merseyside with 17 goals in his previous 20 games; now he has not scored in open play for more than three months. Then he faced a Liverpool team eight points behind United.
And still his side lost 7-0. Now Liverpool’s title challengers are 10 points ahead of United, Ten Hag’s team looking stretched with at least nine players out. The context would suggest there is the potential for embarrassment at a ground where United have not even scored since 2018. Ten Hag nevertheless argued that fear will not be a factor.
“I haven’t seen last season that we were scared there,” the Dutchman insisted. “It was a bad experience but it’s not similar: you start again. Last year, the first half I think we played very decent and we got hammered just after half time then and then we collapsed and that can’t happen.” Some of Ten Hag’s recent appraisals of games have felt overly generous to his team but they were drawing 0-0 until the 43rd minute in March; collapsing, however, has felt a recurring theme for a team that can concede goals in sudden spurts.
Then, it was possible to dismiss an extraordinary result as an aberration; indeed, Jurgen Klopp branded it a “freak” scoreline, the sort that happens once in a lifetime. Yet the last time Ten Hag’s team went to Anfield, it was with a mere four defeats in their previous 38 games. They have been beaten in 12 of 24 this season. Three-quarters of his losses as United manager have come from that March day onwards.
It looks the kind of downward spiral that could conclude in his departure: indeed, Jose Mourinho was sacked two days after defeat at Anfield in December 2018. A changing context could further imperil Ten Hag: he has enjoyed the backing of the current regime at Old Trafford in the owners, the Glazer family, the football director, John Murtough, and the outgoing chief executive Richard Arnold. “I feel that and they tell that, so that’s fine,” he said.
Yet the imminent investment of Ineos and Sir Jim Ratcliffe brings added uncertainty. The petrochemicals billionaire has allegedly met with the former Chelsea manager Graham Potter. Speculation could swirl around Ten Hag. “I’m not concerned about that,” he said.
Liverpool thrashed United on their last visit— (Getty)
He has enough other worries without thinking about the prospect of the sack. He started the season with a midfield of Casemiro, Fernandes and Mason Mount. After the captain’s needless booking for dissent against Bournemouth, he requires a new skipper – he refused to divulge who – and his midfield may comprise Scott McTominay, Sofyan Amrabat and Kobbie Mainoo. The 35-year-old Jonny Evans might have to be pressed into service at centre-back, along with Raphael Varane, whom he had exiled until the Frenchman’s sudden reappearance in the side against Bayern.
Meanwhile, United have a wretched record on the road against the elite teams in the last two years: since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 2021 triumph at Tottenham, they have not beaten a home side that kicked off in the top eight while Liverpool had a 100 per cent record at Anfield in all competitions this season. United have had their worst ever Champions League group campaign and defeat on Sunday would make it the first calendar year since 1989 in which they have lost 20 times.
They are often underdogs at Anfield these days but may not have been such underdogs since Boxing Day in 1986, when Liverpool were the reigning champions, United mired in the lower half and a relatively new manager, a certain Alex Ferguson, oversaw a 1-0 win.
Ferguson created a culture at Old Trafford. Others have struggled to emulate him. Ten Hag believes his past has prepared him for the task. “At Ajax, you have to win,” he reflected. “Here, here you have to win definitely, that is always the demand. You can never run away from those demands and I don’t run away from that. That’s our obligation: to win every game, the players in the squad are good enough to put out a team who can win every game.” But this game, of all Ten Hag’s 86 in charge of United, must rank among the hardest to win, and one that could shape his future.
