How United can start to sort out this mess...
■ GET FOUR MORE SIGNINGS IN - MINIMUM WHETHER it is pursuing a Barcelona midfielder for an inordinate period, getting misled by pre-season results, being led down the garden path by marquee names, recruiting only three players or entering August without two priority targets, this summer is a mash-up of United’s worst summer transfer windows. Their results have increased the need for new blood – a defensive midfielder, a controlling midfielder, a goalscorer and another forward. A back-up goalkeeper is still required.
■ ACCEPT A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER IS NON-NEGOTIABLE
ERIK ten Hag might have been sold a pup by a club that is so rudderless the football director has travelled to Barcelona and Turin only to return without done deals, yet the manager’s willingness to go a transfer window without recruiting a defensive midfielder is delusional.
The position is non-negotiable at City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. Ten Hag is tone-deaf if he thinks Frenkie de Jong is the solution. Brentford might have gobbled up the Dutch international, accustomed as he is to a sedate pace in Spain and the Netherlands, as they did Christian Eriksen.
Moises Caicedo, unearthed by United in Ecuador, singlehandedly divorced the Fred and Scott McTominay matrimony in Brighton’s win. United do not have a single defensive midfielder in their squad and are open to selling the untried James Garner. Relocating Lisandro Martinez there would undermine his signing as a centre-back but that is where he initially started for Ajax.
Adrien Rabiot is capable of holding the fort but the way United’s transfer window is developing he could occupy the De Jong role as the Dutchman continues to resist extradition to Manchester.
■ REASSIGN THE CAPTAINCY IT is not too late to strip Harry Maguire of the captaincy. It is not that the defender has been the particularly bad compared to others, but it would improve the atmosphere of the dressing room and, potentially, his form. Too many in the squad do not believe in him as captain and the privilege of starting football it grants.
■ RESOLVE THE RONALDO SITUATION RONALDO wants out but the suggestion he is an unprofessional troublemaker is insulting. He was geeing-up team-mates after Mathias Jensen put Brentford 2-0 up, stressing one goal could make the difference. Essentially, he was a captain without the armband.
Much was made of his full-time departure. That is the baggage that comes with Ronaldo, who has not had a particularly ardent attachment with any of the fanbases he has played for. Maguire was not far behind him as he headed down the tunnel at the Community Stadium.
Too much can be made of a player not acknowledging the away fans.
■ KILL THE COMPLACENT CULTURE
DEAN Henderson is more aligned with Ten Hag’s style than David de Gea, Luke Shaw did not deserve to start the season, McTominay and Fred is not a progressive partnership and Bruno Fernandes is still starting despite extending his dreadful run of form.
The Reds boss, accustomed to depicting Premier League reject signings as coups at Ajax, was always a more compliant choice than Mauricio Pochettino. While he is a demonstrative presence he has not picked enough battles in a squad that is subjecting United fans to their worst days in 50 years. Henderson, cocky to his detriment at times, is a more modern keeper than De Gea, whose contract situation and salary arguably makes him unsellable. Henderson would be the more sellable asset next year, so would United cash in on a 26-year-old goalie and extend a 32-year-old’s expiry date? They are prone to doling out incongruous contracts.
It would help if there was quality depth in the squad for Ten Hag to get ruthless (there was only one change at Brentford) but there isn’t and United are reducing themselves to putting Garner up for sale. Garner is sellable as he had the good fortune not to be at United last season.