Walls are closing in on Ten Hag... and Moyes knows the feeling well
DAVID MOYES knows how this feels. What it is like to sense the walls closing in at Manchester United. Dark murmurings behind your back. Knives being sharpened.
It is coming up for a decade since Moyes was shown the door at Old Trafford just 10 months into the job with United in seventh place — the same spot they occupied in the Premier League coming into this game.
By the time he shook hands with Erik ten Hag at London Stadium, United were eighth and in danger of going into freefall.
Now it is Ten Hag’s turn to feel the heat. It would be crass to make wisecracks about turkeys and Christmas, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe would have been watching this and time is running out for Ten Hag to show that he is the man to lead United into a new era.
This was his 20th defeat of the calendar year, the most since 1989. United failed to score for the fourth game in a row for the first time since 1992.
‘We can’t feel sorry for ourselves,’ said Ten Hag. ‘We have to take responsibility. If you are playing for Manchester United, we have to do it together and everyone has to be accountable.
‘In 2023, we won a cup, we played the FA Cup final, we were third in the league. There were highlights but we were overperforming. In this moment, we are underperforming. We have to be calm, stick together, stick to the plan and do it together.’
There is no doubt that injuries have crippled Ten Hag this season: not just the numbers but the names he has lost.
Perhaps his last hope is that Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez return in January to save the day. Christian Eriksen, another key player last season, rejoined the squad for the first time in six weeks here. Raphael Varane was ill and had to be replaced by teenage debutant Willy Kambwala, with Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof sidelined.
But it is at the other end of the pitch where
Ten Hag is really hurting. The lack of goals is unforgiveable for a team with so much attacking talent.
Perhaps the most painful thing of all for Ten Hag yesterday was the sight of Mohammed Kudus, the man he took to Ajax in 2020, rounding off a man-of-the-match performance by scoring West Ham’s second goal.
As the bubbles floated past Ten Hag, it looked like the air had drained from his body as he slumped into his dugout seat.
He fancied bringing Kudus to United too but opted instead for his team-mate Antony at a cost of £86million. The Brazilian has failed to contribute a single goal or assist this season in 19 games and 1,174 minutes, just short of 20 hours.
On the other hand, Kudus cost West Ham £38m in the summer and this was his 10th goal of the season — two more than Rasmus Hojlund, Marcus Rashford, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Anthony Martial, Eriksen, Mason Mount and Facundo Pellistri combined.
Hojlund was hooked inside an hour after once again failing to score a first Premier League goal and sat forlornly on the bench. ‘I took him off as he was ill during the week, so in that sense I protected him,’ said Ten Hag.
Rashford replaced the Dane but offered nothing and disappeared at the end without bothering to acknowledge the fans. Ten Hag has two days to spark his spluttering strike-force into life before Aston Villa arrive at Old Trafford. He said: ‘When the strikers don’t score for a few games, they have to believe. They’ve proved in the past they can do it.’