There’s excellent news for Manchester United. In Erik ten Hag has a coach with a transparent imaginative and prescient, one who has the character and dedication to impose it. There are at all times tales from each membership, particularly below the brand new administration, about how exhausting the pre-season coaching was, about how the gamers are in higher form than ever, however on this event there appears to be one thing concrete. There was a notable 4-0 win over Liverpool within the first pleasant, though outcomes have declined barely since then. These are causes for optimism.
However there’s additionally a number of unhealthy information, most of which need to do with facets of membership administration that don’t have anything to do with the supervisor. United have been chasing Frenkie de Jong, former star below ten Hag at Ajax, all summer season and, regardless of Barcelona’s want to promote, they appear no nearer to signing him now than in Might. In actual fact, he has made it clear that his reluctance to maneuver isn’t just to gather the cash Barcelona owes him, but in addition as a result of he would not wish to go to Manchester or a membership as “irregular” as Manchester United, by way of its operations.
Which means with a month of switch window remaining, United are left wanting an enormous central midfielder. He hasn’t even entered a right-back, whereas the center-forward stays an issue additionally as a result of Cristiano Ronaldo remains to be on the membership regardless of having spent many of the summer season attempting to go away. With only a few golf equipment seemingly all for signing him, repeated talks didn’t resolve the problem and over the weekend, after tweeting: “Sunday, the king performs”, he was sacked at half-time and left Previous Trafford earlier. of the top of United’s pleasant draw in opposition to Rayo Vallecano.
That act irritated ten Hag, who instructed the Dutch media, with out naming anybody: “I definitely will not forgive him. That is unacceptable. For everybody. We’re a workforce and you must keep till the top ”.
Ronaldo tried to pressure himself out of Manchester United this summer season.
IMAGO / PA pictures
Nevertheless, Ten Hag has stored the road that he desires Ronaldo to remain and is keen to work with him, however the issue for United, after all, is tips on how to dump the 37-year-old with out incurring too massive a loss. Ronaldo was by no means somebody who had the inclination to press, which is why Sir Alex Ferguson moved him from the wing through the membership’s 2007-2008 Champions League success, changing Wayne Rooney as an alternative to smother the opponent, and now he’s too outdated, his motion too restricted, to take action even when he needed to. However Ten Hag’s soccer calls for urgent. It is a disconnection that can not be reconciled.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjær confronted the identical drawback. His United got here in second season earlier than the final one and whereas which may have been a barely false place, what he was undeniably good at was organising a workforce to take a seat deep and hit shortly on the break. Ronaldo pressured him to vary him. Ralf Rangnick, like Ten Hag, is a urgent coach. On the second day he realized that he could not work with Ronaldo, however he additionally knew that he needed to play with him. Nor was it merely a matter of placing collectively a system that would compensate for his lack of motion; Ronaldo would have rejected urgent exercises in coaching by insisting that coaching needs to be enjoyable.
True, Ronaldo scored 18 objectives final season, eight greater than anybody else in United, however the membership as a complete have scored 16 fewer than the earlier season, lower than in any season since 2016-17. the sample of his three disappointing years at Juventus). There are nonetheless those that are slaves to stardom of him, together with many on United’s board of administrators, however a contemporary begin for the membership can solely actually come as soon as he is gone.
Man United’s new supervisor, ten Hag, was introduced in by Ajax to restore the ship at Previous Trafford.
IMAGO / NTB
Christian Eriksen has arrived and will supply additional creativity in midfield, whereas Lisandro Martínez, regardless of his quick stature (5’9 ”), affords competitors as a central defender, the place Harry Maguire may benefit from a extra outlined construction. The attacking line nonetheless appears to be like quick, nonetheless, given Marcus Rashford’s lack of type final season and Mason Greenwood’s ongoing suspension on sexual assault expenses. Anthony Martial had a promising preseason, however he was by no means a relentless presence. Jadon Sancho may thrive with a extra related method to what he skilled at Borussia Dortmund.
Lastly, United appear to have a supervisor with critical fashionable soccer credentials, however the greatest drawback, as at all times, is what occurs above him. Once more, there was a participant miss touchdown after an extended chase (and even when de Jong was finally signed, it could have been far more useful to have built-in him two months in the past) because the squad continues to endure from a miss. of stability attributable to years of uncoordinated recruitment.
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