Erik ten Hag has complained that he has never faced such a predicament as Manchester United are currently facing. It's a team that's been torn apart by injuries.
In the early hours of May 7 (Beijing time), Manchester United went to Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park stadium in the 36th round of the English Premier League to play a match. Statistics show that Manchester United have as many as 10 players out due to injury, which is almost the equivalent of a full team. As a result, Ten Hag's side suffered a rout, suffering a heavy 0-4 defeat.
Ten Hag is likely to put the blame on the injury, believing it is beyond his control. However, this excuse pales in comparison. The Dutch coach must now face up to the fact that he has failed in shaping the style of the team for Manchester United.
So, what exactly is Manchester United's style of play?
After a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle last December, defender Gary Neville referred to the concept of 'style of play' in a Sky Sports commentary. He stressed that only Louis van Gaal really brought a clear tactical philosophy to the 'Red Devils' after Sir Alex Ferguson, although this may not be quite in keeping with Old Trafford's traditional culture.
At the same time, from David Moyes, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to Ten Hag, none of these coaches have been able to forge a unique identity for the team. One of the things that is often ridiculed by fans is that people don't need to know who the players are on the pitch and can recognise them as Manchester United just by the way they play – not because of their distinctive style, but because of their lack of consistency in their style of play.
Ten Hag's time is running out.
Pep Guardiola, for example, has managed to establish a tactical philosophy of possession at Manchester City. Jurgen Klopp defined Liverpool with a pressing style of play that not only presses the opposition, but also requires players to concentrate and move actively to get the ball back as soon as possible.
Ange Postecoglou, who has only been in charge of Tottenham for just one year, has already created the 'Anger Ball', a pure style of football that emphasises skill, ball possession and creating chances. The common ground of these tactical philosophies is the application of the Italian style of pressing play, which is already popular with many of Europe's top clubs.
Even Roberto De Zerbi has managed to shape a style of dominating possession and dominating the game at Brighton. As a result, the "Seagulls" are always dynamic in their style of play, they stay true to their possession philosophy and dare to attack, no matter who their opponents are.
As for Erik ten Hag's Manchester United, their tactics seem to revolve around the concepts of 'counter-attacking' and 'improvisation'. Surprisingly, this is the same style of the team that was under David Moyes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Jose Mourinho, although they all spent a lot of money to buy players.
Manchester United's situation is not improving.
Ten years have passed since they last won the Premier League, and United are still struggling to find a style of play. They are stuck in a vicious cycle of constantly changing managers, changing coaches every 2 to 3 years, but such a solution has not paid off.
Gary Neville commented on Sky Sports after Manchester United's 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in January: "We need to see some development in the club's style of play over the next few months. What I saw were isolated passes where players had to try to find the next teammate when they received the ball, rather than knowing in advance where they were going to be. ”
Three months after that decision, almost two years after Erik ten Hag arrived at the Theatre of Dreams, the style of the team remains something out of reach for United. In press conferences, the Dutch coach always denied that the team was regressing. On the contrary, he is convinced that the "Red Devils" are moving in the right direction and that things are getting better.
Ten Hag also said football is more than just controlling the ball. That was the statement from the former Ajax boss after Manchester United dominated just 27.1 per cent of the ball against Manchester City. In the Premier League, Manchester United are ranked 9th in possession.
It is precisely because of the inability to control possession that United often lose advantage when they are ahead. This is because they don't know how to handle the ball effectively and then finish off the attack with their own shooting errors. The Premier League's top teams don't play that way, they rely on more than just counter-attacks and individual performances.
In the early hours of May 7 (Beijing time), Manchester United suffered a heavy defeat at Crystal Palace.
In modern football, a good coach always establishes the style of play first and then integrates the players into the system. This may prevent them from winning games without world-class players, but the team will gradually develop its own unique "DNA".
Postecoglou's Tottenham may be a long time before they win the Premier League, but at least he has managed to shape the team's tactical style. Under Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton may always be the 'dark horse', but even with the loss of players every year, their tactical philosophy will not be confused.
Instead, Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool in October 2015 and was asked by reporters ahead of the game against Tottenham what he expected in the short time he had been working with a new player. The German coach said: "We wanted to be different. That's what I'm looking forward to. ”
Liverpool ended in a draw in that game against Tottenham, but they did what no club had been able to do before, which was to run more than their opponents. It doesn't take a great deal of wisdom to see the principles that Klopp immediately applied.
For Pep Guardiola, his debut season at Manchester City was full of challenges, but even so, he managed to take the club to fifth place in possession. Roberto De Zerbi was heavily influenced by the Spanish master tactician, with his side dominating as much as 70 per cent of the ball in their first seven games in the early days at Brighton.
However, at Selhurst Park, did we see Ten Hag's unique style of play for Manchester United, and if so, it was probably just the image of the 'Red Devils' making it easy for opponents to score goals. This performance is even similar to that of other weaker teams such as Burnley, Sheffield United or Coventry.
Ten Hag's time is slipping by. Nowadays, any excuse has become meaningless. United's new owners are clearly reluctant to continue to invest in a manager who has shown signs of failure from the start. Ten Hag needs to find a solution to his team's problems as soon as possible, or he could be the next manager to step down.