Who is to blame for the crisis at Old Trafford — the owners, the hierarchy, a manager who has overseen Manchester United’s worst start to the season for 61 years or a bunch of players unworthy of the shirt?
The only rational answer can be ‘all of them’ when considering a decline that seems so shocking and yet so obvious in equal measure. Owners the Glazers have been a blight on the club, there are serious questions for the executives to answer and an overpriced, overpaid playing squad must bear responsibility for their own rank performances on the pitch.
But as is often the case amid a crisis, one figure is singled out to carry the can, and in football, it is almost always the manager. For Erik ten Hag, the scrutiny he is under after United slumped to a fifth home defeat this season in midweek, their worst run since 1930, is something he invited on himself from the moment he got a foot in the door.
Eight defeats from 15 matches, after spending more than £400million on squad improvements, would often lead to the sack, but given the sorry state of affairs at this once great club, rightly or wrongly, Ten Hag is clinging on to the hot seat for now.
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Fulham, the club are adamant they are behind the Dutchman, but he cannot afford to keep losing games as he enters a run of fixtures that would usually be considered very winnable.
Pertinently, given United are in a state of flux with Sir Jim Ratcliffe waiting ratification to take a 25 per cent stake in the club and oversee football operations, those wielding the axe are just as vulnerable, if not more so.
Ratcliffe is very keen to oversee a structural overhaul, above the manager. As United rolled out the red carpet for the INEOS chairman in March, he told them what he thought of their performance in the transfer market, putting Ten Hag’s superiors, chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough, under pressure to prove otherwise. Awkward timing indeed for the club to make moves for a new boss.
What has been lost in the doom-mongering is the fact that Ten Hag is as much to blame as anyone for the club not producing a world-class signing in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era.
While there has been a marked change in transfer policy, namely letting the manager decide who to sign, the shift in approach is clearly not working.
Pep Guardiola did not spend his evenings sat at the back of the stands watching Jeremy Doku, nor did Jurgen Klopp march into John W. Henry’s office and demand Liverpool go all out for Dominik Szoboszlai. Even at Brighton, the players unearthed are the work of Dan Ashworth and his successors, not Graham Potter or Roberto De Zerbi.
“We’re in the same direction, me, CEO, sporting directors, the chairman,” Guardiola admitted after last Sunday’s comfortable 3-0 win at Old Trafford. “That is why the club is so stable.”
City planned Guardiola’s appointment so well they had chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain already in place, Catalan figures familiar to the incoming manager. And the rest is history.
The best managers are left to coach these days. Ten Hag should have known this but gave himself too much to do, with his preference for former Eredivisie players bringing little reward.
United had one of the most garlanded sporting directors in the world on their books 18 months ago, but made him answer to the inexperienced Murtough, something Ralf Rangnick was never going to do — a move that perfectly symbolises the last decade of decay.
"Ten Hag is as much to blame as anyone for the club not producing a world-class signing in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era"
While Ratcliffe reportedly wants to bring in his own sporting director, there is no indication he will try to usurp Ten Hag, unless the defeats continue to roll in with regularity.
Overseeing an upturn in results is not going to be easy. The players are so low they seem beaten before a ball is kicked and crumble under pressure. Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Newcastle ensured United suffered back-to-back home defeats by three or more goals for the first time since 1962.
Bruno Fernandes was one of an army of positive voices who lauded Ten Hag’s acumen last season, welcoming the Dutchman’s instilling of more discipline. Now, Fernandes is showing signs of frustration more than most, with his tempestuous conduct leading to calls for him to be stripped of the captaincy.
Dressing-room leaks were endemic under previous coaches. That everything stayed in house last season was a sign of the positive feeling around Carrington. Those leaks have resurfaced, with reports of bewilderment over tactics.
The numbers behind Manchester United's dismal form
Eight defeats in 15 games in all competitions makes this United’s worst start to a season since 1962
Five home defeats in 10 games for the first time since 1930
United have conceded at least three goals in six of their last 12 games
15 points from 10 Premier League matches… United have only had fewer twice before
Budgets are tighter this year, with Financial Fair Play regulators lurking, so why spend £55m of that reduced war chest on Mason Mount, who Ten Hag cannot fit into a misfiring midfield?
Then there is the decision to play 35-year-old Jonny Evans against Erling Haaland on Sunday, a decision Ten Hag defended as “tactical”, omitting four-time Champions League winner Raphael Varane as he is not quite as comfortable with his left foot.
Was Rasmus Hojlund the right signing, when Harry Kane was available? How has Marcus Rashford fallen from so high? Why is Casemiro looking more Eric Djemba-Djemba than Roy Keane all of a sudden?
Ten Hag’s on-field dilemmas are endless. For now, he will get time to resolve them. Should he survive long term, however, his attempts to do a Ferguson and oversee all elements of the club have to be forgotten. He has enough to do.
