It was the day when Erik ten Hag’s definition of respect was questioned, along with his tactics. Four-one down in a Manchester derby, he chose not to introduce the record scorer in footballing history. “I wouldn’t bring him in out of respect for Cristiano,” he said and, as Manchester City’s advantage extended to 6-1 before Anthony Martial, the striker substitute he did call upon, scored twice, few credited him with a successful switch.
If it was one of a series of controversies around Cristiano Ronaldo that Ten Hag had to navigate with a blend of diplomacy, toughness and principle, it came at a precarious point in his reign at Old Trafford.
Manchester United had won their previous four league games but his first Manchester derby ended in a 6-3 humiliation. Ten Hag was asked why Christian Eriksen was marking Erling Haaland and, while he wasn’t, with Raphael Varane off the pitch when a corner was taken, the midfielder was the nearest man to the giant striker when he scored.
The more relevant criticism may have concerned a midfield that was dragged everywhere by an attempt to man-mark in the centre of the pitch. Meanwhile Casemiro, who arrived with a reputation as perhaps the world’s best defensive midfielder, began on the bench. In his absence, Scott McTominay was outmanoeuvred and outclassed.
It was only the second day of October, but City were already eight points ahead of United. As the duelling halves of Manchester reconvene, it is with the knowledge a victory for the red side will put them a mere point behind the blue and the sense it is a growing possibility. In the intervening 104 days, United have only lost one game in all competitions, to Aston Villa. They have assumed City’s usual position as favourites to win the Carabao Cup.
Ten Hag’s judgment was widely questioned amid a decidedly mixed start. Now it tends to be backed. There is a feeling the Dutchman himself was surprised at how many outsiders supported him in a war Ronaldo started and lost.
There is also proof of his prowess. Casemiro may have been introduced gradually and, given Ten Hag’s summer-long pursuit of Frenkie de Jong, there could be little pretence he was his first choice, but he made his first Premier League start the following week and has gone on to exert a huge impact. United had the fifth-worst defensive record after Haaland and Phil Foden’s twin hat-tricks at the Etihad Stadium; since then, they have the second-best, just as only Newcastle have taken more points since then.
United arrive at Old Trafford on Saturday on a run of eight straight victories, City fresh from a shock cup exit to a relegation-threatened side in which they failed to register a shot on target. It was a result more in keeping with the modern United than Pep Guardiola’s winning machine.
While Ten Hag has tended to get his decisions right, Guardiola’s gameplan has required such radical surgery that he has substituted two defenders at half-time in each of City’s last two away games: Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo at Stamford Bridge, Walker and Sergio Gomez at Southampton. United have returned from the World Cup with consistency, City with inconsistency.
The counter-argument is that United have defeated their inferiors and that City have displayed an enduring ability to beat their peers, overcoming Liverpool and Chelsea twice. That capacity could prove handy: Old Trafford has been their playground since 2011’s 6-1 triumph but now a 10th win in enemy territory in 12 years would help preserve their status as Manchester’s finest even before they can retain their Premier League crown.
The speed of United’s revival may even surprise one of Ten Hag’s greater admirers. “I would call Manchester United and tell them: ‘Guys, you have to take him,’” Guardiola said in April of his former Bayern Munich colleague. But two other parts of his analysis have a certain pertinence. “He’s a good manager, there is no doubt,” he said. “But there were good managers there in the past since Sir Alex [Ferguson] left.” Old Trafford has been a graveyard of managerial dreams. These are early days, and Jose Mourinho’s debut season yielded two trophies while both the Portuguese and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finished second in the league, but the signs are that Ten Hag could prove United’s most consequential and best manager since the Scot.
Another significant piece of praise from Guardiola nine months ago was: “This is a team and this manager makes the players play.”
If United are now justifying their sobriquet after a season when they seemed fractured and disjointed too often, Marcus Rashford is the flagship example of a footballer Ten Hag has made play. He enters the derby in better goalscoring form than Haaland, just as United’s recent record is superior to City’s.
None of which proves they have toppled the dominant force in Greater Manchester just yet but the balance of power in the area may not be as lopsided as often as in recent years.
