As the first international break of the autumn is upon us, the topics of the day are crushingly predictable.
Manchester City and Erling Braut Haaland are a dominant force, Mikel Arteta and the PGMOL are still apparently at logger heads, and Everton are, well, Everton. But the most predictable of all the story lines is the one surrounding Old Trafford and the man who is running the show there.
As we enter into the third year of the Eric Ten Haag era it is traditional for the fans and commentators to pile on pressure and for results to stack up against the man in the dug out. If he is sacked, the dutch manager will be the fourth in a row to be afforded less than three years to set out his vision, and the third to bring silverware to the club during their tenure. What may be saving him is that Ten Haag has the third best win percentage of Manchester United managers in charge for more than 100 matches, only falling short of Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
Yet despite the silverware and the win rate, the idea that Ten Haag may not be the man for the job seem to be entirely justified. Performances on the pitch rarely stretch to more than three games and euphoric wins against bitter rivals in the FA Cup are tempered by disappointment in the league. In the 2022/23 Premier League season, Manchester United only managed to win three on the bounce twice, and were roundly beaten by Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, and West Ham, on their way to the worst finish in a generation.
On top of the results the overall disappointment of the season has been crushing for United fans. After all, one year in, Ten Haag was looking like a good choice. A well-earned third league finish with 75 points on the board, a good showing in the Europa League, beating Barcelona on the way to a quarter final exit at the hands of the eventual winners Sevilla, and some silverware in the form of a League Cup, United seemed to be back on track.
So what has changed in the past year? Statistically, not a lot. Between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, Manchester United’s goals, yellow cards, red cards, shooting accuracy, passing accuracy, crossing accuracy, and tackling success are more or less identical. The area that is different though, is goals conceded and clean sheets. United conceded 15 more goals last season, equating to half a goal a game and eight less clean sheets than last year. As a result, the Red Devils lost five more matches last season compared to 22/23 which cost them a Champions League spot.
Now that could be put down to a bit of distruption in that area. United entered into the 2023/24 season with a new goalkeeper and encountered several injuries along the campaign, with 35 year-old Jonny Evans becoming one of the most frequent defenders to make an appearance, seeing action more than Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, and Victor Lindelof.
But this defensive slide has continued into the new season. Although we are only three matches into a fresh campaign, United’s conceded goals per game statistics are going up and pretty stagnant goal-per-game, shooting, passing, and crossing accuracy statistics.
All this being said, it still feels too early to make judgements on this season at least. It does seem that Ten Haag is somewhat let down by his players but at the same time, he’s just closed the 5th transfer window as a United manager which feels to be more than enough time to get the personnel he wants in the squad. It’s now time for the Dutchman to find some form because Manchester United are far from a class act at the moment.