All the money in the world can't fix Man Utd mess
Paul Macdonald
- Updated: 2 Oct 2022 16:24 BST
- 5 min read
Manchester United seem to find new ways to disappoint.
Just as it looked as if Erik Ten Hag had reshaped things and, at the very least, made United difficult to beat, along came Manchester City to completely blow them away and assert their total dominance over their rivals.
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It was painful to watch. City were mesmerising, with hattrick heroes Erling Haaland and Phil Foden in particular performing on a completely different level, forging football from another world.
United were light years behind in comparison; black and white TV versus colour, analogue versus digital, 3G versus Wifi. There is such a chasm between these sides as to suggest that they are not playing the same sport.
And United just made it all way too easy. City’s exceptional talents excel in tight spaces and can extract attacking value against traditionally low blocks. But they didn’t have to. From the moment Diogo Dalot was booked for upending Jack Grealish with 100 seconds on the clock, United were two steps away from the ball at all times.
Christian Eriksen allowed Foden to drift easily away from him to flick home a glorious opener, and then was left - somehow - to challenge Haaland in the air, a task he failed miserably. Haaland hooked home an improbable third and then provided Foden with the fourth, while United’s players looked on, aghast, helpless, hopeless. The stream of away fans leaving at half-time a stark reminder of how little faith there is that this team are good, or can be good again.
And in the second, it was more of the same until City decided to take a breather. Haaland lashed in a fifth goal and Foden slotted a sixth - both men earning hat-tricks in the process. They were both phenomenal.
What. A. Day. 👊💙
🔵 6-3 🔴 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/flZXyJ7kdn— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 2, 2022
But for United, It wasn’t just their passiveness out of possession, it was the fact that they appeared frightened to be here, filled with anxiety over facing Haaland and the rest. The back four of Dalot, Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia are a relatively new unit, and it showed.
And as for on the ball? Astonishingly tentative, as if the fear of having it at all compounded their desire to give the ball straight back to City. Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay were unable to complete simple tasks, and were caught out on such a rudimentary tactical level as to be amateurish.
What does Ten Hag do now?
Where does Ten Hag go from here? Like previous coaches, he is beginning to understand that there is a deeper malaise at play within United, one that no amount of money can fix. But he also chose to leave one of the best defensive midfielders in the world on the bench against the best team in the world. Having Eriksen in the double pivot ahead of Casemiro is broadly fine at home to teams where his passing range will be heavily utilised.
But against a team like this, he’s asked to defend, to check runs, to work hard off the ball. He isn’t particularly good at any of these things and he was probably the most exposed player on the pitch as a result.
Ten Hag has an expensive team, packed with internationals, and yet none of them, right now, would get a game for City. It’s that simple and full proof that having money is one thing, but having the correct people spending it is quite another. Since City adopted Guardiola, to a lesser extent Ferran Soriano, their business has been shrewd, smart, and designed for the purpose of the team. United’s is quite the opposite.
It’s sometime easier to be able to take a shot at the Glazer’s for not spending money, and to think that maybe one or two transfer windows and this team will get it right. But on a day like today, solutions to United’s many problems seem further away than ever.
MAN UTD SIGNINGS, RATED
Lisandro Martinez: 3/10
Difficult to blame him when the team as a collective can perform this badly, and Martinez was offered next to no protection either from the double pivot or from runners easily escaping the full-backs. But at the end of the day, nothing he did affected the performance of Haaland. It’s a game he will never want to see again.
Tyrell Malacia: 2/10
Looked very much like an Eredivisie full-back here, given the absolute run-around as the likes of Phil Foden moved in off his flank with ease, and Malacia had no idea what to do with him; track or hold his position. In the end he did neither and was ruthlessly hooked at half-time, to be replaced by Luke Shaw.
Christian Eriksen: 1/10
It’s really not Eriksen’s fault that he was deployed in a double pivot here, in a match where he will be asked to do more than his fair share of defending. It’s not his main skill, it’s not why you play him, and it was obvious it was going to happen. Lost Foden for the opening goal and hopelessly bullied when trying to mark Haaland for the second.
Antony: 4/10
He didn’t see much of the ball at all throughout the game and it’s clear that defending backwards isn’t something he’s particularly keen on doing, certainly for as long as would have been required today. But from an attacking perspective he did at least show what he is capable of again, curling in an excellent goal that gave United a very brief glimpse of a comeback.
Casemiro: 4/10
Given the last 20 minutes and was probably happy to only have that. Will need to be given a consistent run of games in his preferred position before we can assess exactly what impact he can have on this team.
