Manchester United had their chances to score at least a goal in, historically, the biggest rivalry in the English Premier League but a clear lack of efficiency robbed the Red Devils of delivering a result that would have made up for some decent looks at goal.
However, between Joshua Zirkzee’s poor finishing and wrong positioning and crucial mistakes at the opposite end, Man United lost 3-0 to Liverpool in another embarrassing result against the biggest old rival at Old Trafford under Ten Hag.
With Mohammed Salah wrapping up the big result by sweeping home a tidy finish, it is clear Old Trafford is a happy hunting ground for the Egyptian Football God.
The aforementioned crucial mistakes were committed by Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo and got Man United getting caught flat footed and out of tactical shape to stem atypical transition plays from Liverpool en route to The Reds three goal output.
After getting singled out by frustrated fans, Casemiro’s wife backed her husband by posting a picture of the Brazilian celebrating a goal with his Man United teammates and all the trophies, including five Champions League titles, the veteran midfielder has won in his career.
There is some significant level of truth in there as the image represents Casemiro’s best years that are past just as Man United’s days as the most dominant team in the EPL are firmly in the past.
While players should take blame for the poor result, the manager also has to take some flak for the poor loss after shockingly dropping Amad Diallo from the starting unit and keeping Joshua Zirkzee on the pitch for way too long. The Dutch player looked lost for long stretches in the game and consistently lost out on aerial battles to Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate despite being as big as both Liverpool defenders.
The loss has piled pressure, even this early in the new season, on the Dutch manager and in the face of defending himself, Ten Hag has quipped that he isn’t “Harry Potter” to wave the magic wand and get Man United to that all conquering form over night.
For naysayers on Ten Hag’s ability to right the Man United ship, there are quite a number of reasons for them to feel so. After all, the former Ajax Manager is in his third year as Man United manager and that is more than enough time to get Man United to not get waxed at home by Liverpool especially when significant investment has been made by the club in player recruitment.
Diving head first into Man United’s financial support for Ten Hag, it is telling that he is working with as many as five players he worked with during his brilliant stint at Ajax in Onana, De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Mazzraoui and Antony.
With all these factors going in his favour, languishing in the 14th spot in the EPL standings after three games with just three points accrued from a possible nine points while showing very little progress from the chaotic defending it has shown all two years under Ten Hag, is shocking. It isn’t surprising that Ten Hag is already under pressure to quickly turn around Man United’s situation to dumb down chatter about an impending sack.
While the first international break of a new club football season is seen as a flat out nuisance especially coming on the back of the transfer window’s closure, that isn’t the case for Manchester United as a club, its manager and its players. At the time of writing, only Sean Dyche and his Everton team matches Man United’s keenness to see the international break come around.
Beyond dropping points from a winning position to Brighton and Hove Albion and getting embarrassed by the arch rival, Ten Hag has expedited his dismissal even after getting his contract extended in the offseason by adding club legend Ruud Van Nistelrooy to his technical staff.
Though he missed out on winning the UEFA Champions League title with Man United, Van Nistelrooy endeared himself to the United fateful by starring in multiple title winning campaigns under Sir Alex Ferguson before moving to Real Madrid to win two La Liga titles.
The former Dutch player was seemingly roped into Ten Hag’s staff to help develop the club’s young strikers Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund and get Marcus Rashford back to his 30 goal outing campaign. However, Van Nistelrooy occupies a position where he is easily seen as a ready in-house replacement for Ten Hag should the latter get sacked.
There is always an allure to get a club legend lead the team as a coach just as it was with Frank Lampard leading Chelsea not once but twice and Zinedine Zidane replacing his former boss Carlo Ancelotti, as Real Madrid head coach. Didier Deschamps did same at Juventus just as so many other club football legends and Van Nistelrooy would be no different.
In the case of Zidane, who went on to win (a hitherto never been done before) three Champions League titles in a row, the French great wasn’t proven at the elite level. Unlike Zidane, Van Nistelrooy is proven as a head coach to a large extent after winning the Dutch version of the FA Cup and Super Cup with PSV Einhoven.
By bringing in Van Nistelrooy to help him correct some wrongs with his forwards, Ten Hag has inadvertently cut short his leeway at Man United and barring a sharp upturn in fortunes, Erik Ten Hag could see his former appointee replace him as manager of the record league champions soon.
