Despite completing the plan ahead of schedule, this marathon season will still test the limits of Teng's Manchester United

This article was compiled from: theathletic

Written by Adam Crafton

原标题：Ten Hag’s Manchester United ahead of schedule but this marathon season will test them to the limit

In the first 72 minutes of the FA Cup clash with Fulham on 19 March, United appeared to be on the verge of elimination.

Since the World Cup in Qatar in late December, the long marathon season may have come to a bad end. Ten Hag's side are on the verge of exiting the FA Cup at home and face an increasingly serious situation in the battle for the Premier League's top four.

Manchester United's performance on the pitch also sent red flags at one point.

Casemiro struggled in the FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham in their absence with a red card suspension. United seemed to struggle to push the ball through half-time, and Scott McTominay and Sabitzer's inability to pick up passes defensively in time caused Harry Maguire to always appear hesitant and sloppy when splitting the ball.

After United trailed by a goal, Scott McTominay was substituted around 60 minutes later. Maguire's dragging approach to the ball caused displeasure among the Reds fans at the scene. He was shown a yellow card for a clumsy counter-tackle in the first half, and in the second half he narrowly scored a stupid foul near his home corner area.

When United fell behind, B Fei waved his hands again and vented his dissatisfaction.

Fulham had a chance to seal a straight win, but De Gea's excellent play saved United from the day.

Fulham manager Marco Silva still claimed after the game that Fulham were "clearly the best team on the pitch" and he was perhaps right.

By the time the game reaches the 70th minute, United fans may fear their team is exhausted ahead of the international break. This is also a situation caused by a mixture of many reasons.

Since the Premier League resumed after the World Cup, Manchester United have suffered a week double for 13 consecutive weeks. They have at least four rounds to face a week's double after the international break, while the postponed Premier League games away to Brighton and home against Chelsea could be added to the intensive fixture schedule. If they make it all the way in the Europa League, Manchester United, who have reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, could experience another week of doubles before the end of the season in April and May.

However, it is not just the issue of players' fitness reserves that people are focusing on now.

Ten Hag will also need to face the fierce reaction of Manchester United fans to captain Harry Maguire's poor performances; why his team struggled so much without Casemiro; And Westhorst has started all 18 games since joining United on loan from Burnley in January.

Manchester United were able to chase a draw and complete a comeback mainly due to Fulham's self-defeating position and the ability of Manchester United's players to take advantage of opportunities at crucial moments.

It would be unreasonable to attribute this victory entirely to Fulham's mistakes, as Anthony and Jadon Sancho's performances in attacking the third zone were the key factor in United's turnaround. At the same time, Manchester United also used Fulham's three red cards (two for Fulham's players and one for Fulham manager Silva) to stop Fulham's offensive momentum in time and complete the reversal. Fay showed his ability to capitalise on key moments, first scoring a crucial penalty before ending United's victory with a beautiful volley in injury time.

After objective and sober analysis, some of the above problems about the team on the field still need to be solved.

Especially the problem with Maguire. Because he doesn't seem to have met Ten Hag's requirements for a centre-back position, and Lisandro Martinez's excellent performances at left-centre-back – suitable confrontation and midfield passes – only highlight his inadequacy as captain.

But what people see and what actually happens are completely different things. Manchester United have been able to maintain their third-tier Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League games after the national break, and they have nine wins, four draws and two defeats in all 25 games since the World Cup – two defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool.

The 7-0 defeat at Anfield two weeks ago had led to the impression that United would never be able to do so from there, but instead United responded positively in the following matches.

Observers of Manchester United, as well as Ten Hag himself, will realise that the results often exceed their expectations, as United have endured chaotic moments in their recent games against Leeds United, West Ham United and Southampton. As the season heads into the final months of Tenhag's first season in charge, they may all be excited about it. If United can beat Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final next month, the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on June 3 is likely to welcome another Manchester City derby. At the same time, Manchester United fans may continue to enjoy the Europa League until the Europa League final in Budapest, Hungary on 31 May.

So we can be absolutely certain that under Ten Hag, Manchester United have completed the task ahead of schedule.

But that doesn't mean the Dutchman is already happy with the team's progress. In his post-match press conference on Sunday, he used positive words such as "perseverance, determination and conviction" to evaluate the team's performance, and he was encouraged by the team's incredible rise to the top, as they did recently against Barcelona, Leeds United and West Ham United.

Asked by The Athletic whether this Manchester United side has become his ideal 'Eric Ten Hag's team' in terms of style, Ten Hag said: "I'm happy and happy with their performance, but I think we have a lot of room for improvement in terms of possession. Today's game is an example of this, we have to be more composed in possession, we have to know which areas we can play overload and use that area to contain the opponent and maintain more possession. ”

"We can definitely do better and benefit from the defensive transition to the attacking phase. I think we have room for improvement in transitioning from offensive to defensive, especially in counter-tackles. ”

"In the crucial games against Liverpool and Manchester City, we were beaten, we were really beaten, so we have to show more personality. Although there is still a lot to be desired, I am still pleased with the progress we have made. ”

But Ten Hag also said the side were now "where we want to be" as United still had the potential to win multiple trophies, including the League Cup they already won last month. Ten Hach also said that there will be a game every three to four days, which will allow the team to continue this good momentum and provide the players with the motivation to keep winning. That's what the team needs at this stage.

As the season progresses, fitness and squad depth could be issues United will need to face, with injuries and suspensions of key players being the biggest threat to their ability to move forward.

Among the top four opponents at this stage, Newcastle have 12 games left this season, while Tottenham Hotspur have 10 games to complete. If Ten Hag's side reach the final in both the Europa League and FA Cup, they have a maximum of 19 games to complete.

If they end up playing all 19 games, this season will prove to be one of United's most famous seasons.