After starting the season with a loss at home to Brighton and then a 4-0 defeat away at Brentford, Manchester United are in a terrible place right now.
It is not the start that new coach Erik ten Hag will have wanted and there is the added complication of Cristiano Ronaldo so obviously wanting to leave the club.
Ten Hag spoke to Sky Sports after the match against Brentford and he admitted that this is not what he expected from the opening two games.
“We expected a different start, it seems like what happened in the past, last season, and we have to change that very quickly,” he said.
“We need new players, we need quality players and we will do everything to convince them to come.”
The Manchester United drift
When Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, he did so with the Premier League trophy under his arm. That was the last time any United coach won the title.
If caretaker coaches are included too, United have been through David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick before reaching Ten Hag.
Solskjaer lasted the longest – three years – and Mourinho won the most titles – three. The Portuguese lifted the Europa League, the Carabao Cup and the Community Shield in 2017, which was the last entry to the trophy cabinet.
In five of the last nine seasons (2013/14, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2018/19 and 2021/22) they finished outside the top four.
Now they are coming to the end of the 2022 summer transfer window with an incomplete squad and an influential player like Ronaldo wanting to leave the club.
There is also the small matter of the fan base regularly protesting the ownership of the club by the Glazer family, which sums up where United are at right now.
“Don’t get me wrong, managers are responsible as well,” Ten Hag said, accepting some blame for the poor start to the season.
“It’s a big responsibility and I take that. I will work on that.”
Yet, he certainly cannot be blamed for the environment that has been put in place since Ferguson left.
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