CAPTAIN CHAOS!
United wanted Ten Hag to bring method but this helter-skelter season is nothing but madness. He’s...
ON the Ineos compass displayed at the company’s headquarters in Knightsbridge, roughly 80 degrees west of ‘don’t do dumb s**t’ is another thing Sir Jim Ratcliffe does not like that could well apply to Manchester United and boss Erik ten Hag — making the same mistake twice.
Anyone who witnessed United’s capitulations in stoppage time at both Brentford and Chelsea over the past week would recognise the familiar failings in Ten Hag’s side.
At the Gtech Community Stadium last Saturday night, they led in the 99th minute and drew. Five miles down the road at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, United were 3-2 up in the 100th minute and lost 4-3.
Instead of six points, they got one. For a team playing catch-up in the race for Champions League places, and a manager whose job prospects may well hinge on qualifying for Europe’s elite competition, making the same mistake twice could have serious consequences.
Only, it is more than twice. Much more. This season has produced a catalogue of errors, from the crazy Champions League ties against Galatasaray, Bayern Munich and Copenhagen to the kind of Premier League madness we witnessed in west London this past week. Great for the neutrals, less so for United fans.
How naive were we for thinking the drama had peaked in that FA Cup tie for the ages three weeks ago when Amad Diallo’s 121stminute goal snatched a 4-3 win over Liverpool in a stupendous quarter-final at Old Trafford.
When Jurgen Klopp’s side return tomorrow looking to take another step towards winning the Premier League title, the mood at United could not be more different.
The manner of defeat against Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea must have taken Ten Hag back five years to a heartbreaking Champions League semi-final defeat when the two men were in charge of Ajax and Tottenham.
As he sifted through the wreckage of his team’s collapse at Stamford Bridge, Ten Hag expressed hope his players could use their pain as a positive against Liverpool.
‘We will be mad and angry, and you can take a lot of energy from that, and that is the way we have to do it,’ he said. ‘First, I have to deal with this (Chelsea), but we can’t deal with this long. We have to recover quickly. We have to turn this around, so we’ll be in a positive mood, looking forwards.’
What is unfathomable about Ten Hag’s second season at Old Trafford is that he was meant to bring method to United, not madness. In that sense, he seems the perfect fit for Ineos and, who knows, might still be.
Rigour is another of Ratcliffe’s favourite words which, according to the dictionary, means doing things in a strict and thorough way. When Ten Hag met United executives for his job interview in Amsterdam two years ago, they were blown away by his attention to detail and the sheer amount of data he brought with him.
The Dutchman is a student of the game and talks consistently about his players sticking to a process.
However, as the man ultimately responsible for performances and results, he has been doing a passable impersonation of Captain Chaos these past few weeks.
It has got him to Wembley again and an FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City. Winning the Cup in 2016 was not enough to save Louis van Gaal, but it could feasibly buy Ten Hag more time.
However, Champions League qualification has been used as a yardstick for United managers before, and it will be a key factor again. Ten Hag acknowledged that it will be very difficult after falling 11 points behind fourthplaced Aston Villa with a game in hand and nine behind Tottenham, in fifth, with a far inferior goal difference to both his rivals.
Asked if United now need to win all eight of their remaining league games, he said: ‘I think so, yeah.
‘In stoppage time this week, we have dropped five points. It’s very expensive. The points are getting
more expensive because the games are running out.
‘(Chelsea and Brentford) were an example of how to get a big game over the line and get three points. We have to step up and make better decisions.
‘We have to catch up and we are now many points behind, so it will be difficult.
‘But we will keep fighting and I’m sure you see, our team, they have character. They are resilient and I’m sure they will be there on Sunday to be in the fight against Liverpool.’
The feeling at United is that nothing is cut and dried regarding Ten Hag’s future. He is still involved with Ineos in planning for the summer and next season, and there will certainly not be a kneejerk reaction to the events of the past week.
There is an understanding that winning the FA Cup and finishing strongly would paint a very different picture to losing against Coventry and falling away over the remaining league games.
Then there is the issue of identifying any potential successors, with United’s new leadership group unlikely to be in place until this summer at the earliest following moves to appoint Omar Berrada as chief executive, Dan Ashworth as director of football and Jason Wilcox as technical director.
Amid the uncertainty off the pitch and unceasing drama on it, Ten Hag must continue staking his claim to be given a third season in charge. The 54-year-old is convinced he will be given that opportunity.
‘I don’t have any doubts,’ he said. ‘I’m just focusing on my job, focusing on this process, in this project. I really love to be here, I’m enjoying it. It’s a challenge.
‘Results will not always go the way we want, but I’m sure we’re in the right direction and we will get where we want to be.’