Man Utd aren’t improving under Erik ten Hag. (Image: Getty)
is unsurprisingly facing scrutiny on the basis that results aren’t improving on the back of the worst season in the club’s history. But the more worrying aspect of Ten Hag’s rotten rut is the fact his players still aren’t learning from their costly mistakes.
Much of United’s misfortune this season has been self-inflicted. From countless missed chances to defensive deficiencies, they have become the masters of shooting themselves in the foot.
A coach’s job is to eradicate those errors by offering guidance on how to ensure they aren’t repeated. But Ten Hag’s players either can’t understand his instructions or have stopped listening altogether.
Let’s track back to last Wednesday. United lead FC Twente through Christian Eriksen’s thunderous opener and look to be cruising towards a winning start to their Europa League campaign.
Then Bart van Rooij picks the ball up at the bottom of the pitch. Then Marcus Rashford loses out in their duel. Then he runs past , Lisandro Martinez and Christian Eriksen to enter United’s half.
Manuel Ugarte eventually dispossesses him, but Eriksen fumbles possession in the path of Sam Lammers, who moments later is spotted wheeling away towards a raucous away end after equalising.
United didn’t recover from that team-wide defensive mishap, resulting in an underwhelming 1-1 draw that didn’t offer much momentum heading into the weekend.
Ten Hag described the Twente goal as unacceptable, suggesting it was something his players would work on ahead of Spurs’ visit.
Micky Van de Ven ran through Man Utd’s entire team. (Image: Getty)
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But three minutes is all it took for the exact same thing to happen again at Old Trafford in the build-up to Brennan Johnson’s early opener.
This time, Spurs centre-back Micky van de Ven drove through the entire United team from his own half before squaring the ball for the goalscorer to tap into an empty net.
It was a shambolic start from United as much as it was astonishing from Van de Ven and set the tone for a diabolical afternoon.
“I think, after two or three minutes, to concede a goal like this did something to our belief. It was totally unnecessary,” Ten Hag explained after full-time.
“You can’t concede a goal like the first goal, the centre-half [Micky van de Ven] stepping in and passing the whole team over on the right side and crossing to the far post, and the right-winger [Brennan Johnson] is tapping in.
“It was the same mistake we made in midweek against Twente. We should stop it at the first moment and should be in a better position.”
The Dutchman’s comments serve as an unwanted reminder of how far his team is from where it should be over two years into his project at Old Trafford.
They are the repeated errors that will eventually cost Ten Hag his job, and he might not be afforded many more of them.