Erin ten Hag was given a stark reminder of the difficulties he will face in trying to convert this current Manchester United incarnation into anything more than a mediocre football team this season.
Many in attendance at Old Trafford were left stunned to see the Red Devils head into the half-time break 2-0 down, although the reality is they shouldn’t be. While it’s been a summer of change off the pitch at United, things looked all so familiar on it.
The starting XI housed a midfield duo of Fred and Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire was still club captain operating at the heart of the defence and all of that was made worse by a lack of viable options in attack. In fact, with Cristiano Ronaldo still lacking match sharpness, new recruit Christian Eriksen was given the unenviable job of starting the game as the team’s false nine.
