Ten Hag’s growing list of excuses does not stack up
Manager’s boast that United are ‘most dynamic’ team in top flight is latest statement fans are finding hard to take
The patience of Manchester United supporters is being tested with every passing week, a phenomenon which has coincided with Erik ten Hag’s increasing defiance, and growing list of excuses.
For some time now, when quizzed about United’s dramatic drop-off this season, their manager has, reasonably enough, cited an injury list which has comprised more than 60 individual cases of players rendered unavailable due to fitness or illness issues.
On Saturday, after a disappointing home draw with Burnley, a team who will still, in all likelihood, start next season in the Championship, Ten Hag extended his repertoire to complaints about the inconsistency of referees.
Ten Hag was honest enough to admit that Zeki Amdouni’s equalising penalty was the correct decision, after the Burnley substitute was accidentally punched in the face by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
But as he checked off the long list of perceived injustices in penalty calls involving his team in recent weeks, he conveniently ignored the fact that Onana escaped conceding a penalty when doing exactly the same thing in the opening-night 1-0 home victory against Wolves, a decision that infuriated the visitors.
Poor officiating, perhaps, is something that evens itself out over a campaign; as does the loss of key players to injury absences.
Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah, to name just two key players on other teams, have missed large chunks of the season. Where Manchester City and Liverpool differ is in having compiled deep and competent squads – something United have patently failed to do over recent years.
The sheer volume, too, of injury problems at Old Trafford speaks to inherent issues in various departments – from physio to strength and conditioning, to medical to nutrition, and many points in between. Those areas, not just bad luck, are where Ten Hag should be focusing and, presumably, behind the scenes, he and the new management structure being put in place by United are doing precisely that.
To the growing list of excuses can now be added youth and a lack
of patience from supporters, who booed Ten Hag when he took off popular midfielder Kobbie Mainoo after just over an hour of Saturday’s game.
Ten Hag argued that youngsters such as Mainoo needed to be given time to adapt to the rigours of firstteam football, but he knows such observations hold little sway in the modern era of sack-first-ask-questions-later management. The argument is also diluted by the fact that Ten Hag has started teenager Alejandro Garnacho – older than Mainoo by all of nine months – in every game since Nov 1.
On Wednesday, Ten Hag bristled at the suggestion that United had not always been “in control” during the 4-2 home win over Sheffield United, one of the worst teams in Premier League history who had managed to twice take the lead.
And, after the Burnley match, despite a laboured performance, he uttered a bizarre proclamation about the football currently being played by his team.
“We are one of the most dynamic and entertaining teams in the league at this moment,” he said. “We are creating loads of chances by playing good football. It was unnecessary to lose control. We repaired this at half-time and second half was much better.”
Having steadfastly insisted his team had not lost control in a 4-2 win over Sheffield United, he finally conceded that they had done so in a draw with Burnley.
As for the claim about United being the great entertainers, supporters will have their own views, but what is shaping up to be United’s worst, or joint-worst, league season – in terms of defeats and final position – in 34 years offers little consolation to those fans.
They certainly vented their frustration at the final whistle, booing lustily as players trooped off at the end of the eighth of 17 home games this season in which they have not seen their team end victorious. Only Wolves, among the division’s top 12 teams, have recorded more than United’s five home defeats in the league this season.
The generous interpretation at the conclusion on Saturday was that those fans were booing referee John Brooks for his late penalty decision.
Difficult home games to come, against Arsenal and Newcastle, may see their patience with Ten Hag tested even more.