Manchester United have been stumbling for nine years and the Red Devils have still not overcome the trauma of Sir Alex Ferguson‘s departure in 2013.
The stability and success brought to the club by the Scottish manager, who in his 26 years lifted 38 titles, left Old Trafford with him.
Over the last decade, United have drifted away from the English and European elite in which Ferguson had placed them.
They have lost their identity and have not stopped adding sporting failures, battles in their dressing room, millionaire signings of dubious performance and coaches in their dugout.
The latest, Erik ten Hag, has the tough job of rebuilding a Red Devils team that has a tendency to self-destruct.
“At Ajax he has proved to be one of the most exciting and successful coaches in Europe, renowned for his team’s attractive attacking football and his commitment to young players,” said John Murtough, the club’s director of football.
“In our discussions we were deeply impressed by his long-term vision to return United to the level at which we want to compete and his drive and determination to achieve this.”
The Dutchman, who arrives in July and signs until 2025 with an option for a further season, will have to turn around a United side whose crisis has become chronic.
To put an end to the blank years and establish themselves in the Champions League
The Red Devils have not won a title since 2017, when Jose Mourinho won the Europa League in 2016/17 won against Ajax (2-0) in Solna.
This season will be the fifth consecutive one without a trophy, having only won five trophies (an FA Cup, a League Cup, a Europa League and two Community Shields) since Ferguson’s 2013 departure.
A drought for a giant that in four of the last eight seasons (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019) failed to qualify for the Champions League via their league position.
This season they have it tough: with five games to go, they are sixth with three points and a game in hand on Tottenham (fourth) and Arsenal (fifth).
There is a 23 point gap between them and Manchester City at the top, while the distance from Liverpool and even Chelsea has widened.
A difficult job
The United job is a coach crusher. Since Ferguson’s departure, the ‘Red Devils’ have had seven coaches.
Some permanent (David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal, Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) and others ‘interim’ (Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ralf Rangnick), but none have managed to get the team back on track.
Solskjaer lasted the longest (almost three years) and Mou had the best winning percentage (58 percent) and the most titles (three).
Rangnick has barely achieved 41 percent of victories and his arrival after the Norwegian’s sacking in November has changed nothing.
“This is United and you have to have the best of the best, not bring in a manager who has coached two years out of the last 10. There has to be a top manager to revive this club,” Paul Scholes told BT.
Now it is the turn of Ten Hag, who in his four and a half seasons at Ajax has won two Eredivisies (he is on his way to his third), two KNVB Cups and a Johan Cruyff Shield and who captivated European football in 2019 when he reached the Champions League semi-finals after knocking out Real Madrid in the last 16 and Juventus in the quarters.
He gave flight to ‘kids’ like Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong….
“It is a great honour to be appointed United coach and I am very excited about the challenge ahead of us,” Ten Hag said.
“I know the history of this great club and the passion of the fans and I am absolutely determined to develop a team capable of achieving the success it deserves.”
A Guardiola-like style of play
Ten Hag, who was a defender during his career in Dutch football, started out on the bench at Go Ahead Eagles in 2012 and worked his way up to the Eredivisie.
However, everything changed when he joined Bayern Munich‘s youth team in 2013, with Guardiola as first-team coach.
There, for two years, he moulded a ‘total football’ that has fascinated the Dutch school since it was implemented by Rinus Michels in the 1960s and 1970s as a roadmap that has been immovable at his Utrecht and Ajax sides.
“Is our style like Pep’s? He learned it from Cruyff,” said Ten Hag.
The new United coach already praised the City boss in 2019.
“I learned a lot from him. His philosophy is sensational. What he did at Barcelona, at Bayern and now at City? It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“He is an innovator and an inspiration. His attacking and attractive game is also very profitable because he wins a lot of titles. I try to implement this structure at Ajax.”
“I want to have the ball and thus hurt the opponent. It’s about possession, movement, vertical attacking patterns, pressing and wingers moving into the middle to leave space for the full-backs. Everyone attacks, everyone defends.”
That will be his plan at a United side that has historically been characterised by fast-transition football and whose recent coaches have not been advocates of possession.
He will go for a game ‘made in Guardiola’ with whom he will share a city.
What kind of squad will he have?
A revolution is coming at Old Trafford. Rangnick has already warned the players.
“Apart from in goal, we have to try to improve the team in all positions,” he said.
“There will be a rebuilding and it won’t be enough to sign three or four players.
“The situation is not easy to analyse. For me, it is clear that there will be six, seven, eight or maybe 10 new players.
“There are also a lot of players who are coming off contract. But before you sign, you have to know how you want to play.”
Rangnick, who will move into a consultancy role at the end of the season, outlined the changes to come in a dressing room that has been ‘shaken’ by the captaincy battle between Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo, as revealed by the Daily Mail.
Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Nemanja Matic, Juanma Mata and Lee Grant are all out of contract and will leave and other players such as Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Alex Telles, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford could leave a club that might have up to 18 departures, according to Sky Sports.
We will see what happens with Donny van de Beek, on loan at Everton and who led to stardom at Ajax.
Even the future of Ronaldo, who has one year left on his contract, is up in the air according to the Daily Star.
Another turn of events after another exciting summer in the market and then disappointing on the pitch.
United signed Raphael Varane (40 million euros), Jadon Sancho (85) and CR7 (15) to ‘improve’ an expensive squad that has added in the last decade Pogba (105), Maguire (87), Bruno Fernandes (63), Fred (59), Wan-Bissaka (55)… and other players who did not work out like Romelo Lukaku (84.7) or Angel Di Maria (75).
A collection of signings made up since 2013 for 1.35 billion euros, a figure only surpassed by City (1.5 billion), Barcelona (1.44 billion), Juventus (1.41 billion) and Chelsea (1.38 billion).
United are the worst-scoring team in the top six (48 goals conceded in 33 games).
They have been crushed by City and Liverpool at home (2-0 and 5-0) and away (4-1 and 4-0), are eliminated from all competitions and lack leadership and mental strength.
“It’s a disaster,” summed up Gary Neville.
The signing of Antony (Ajax) would be the first for Ten Hag, who has to mould a team without players capable of carrying the weight of the games in midfield and which is in permanent crisis. Quite a challenge. A revolution.
Marca
