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Erik ten Hag feels he is a wronged man. The question Manchester United faced in the summer, and may do again in upcoming weeks or months, is whether he is the wrong man. A manager who has spent a fortune feels fortune has not favoured him. “In this moment, definitely the luck is not our side,” he lamented after the 2-1 defeat at West Ham.
In isolation, he may have had a point. Jarrod Bowen’s winner came from a dubious penalty decision, the sort that brings interminable debates about “process” and “clear and obvious”. Regardless of refereeing, United’s performance merited at least a point. His broader argument may not stand. “Three times this season we feel injustice,” said Ten Hag. But his side beat Brentford anyway after Ethan Pinnock’s opener when, contrary to United’s assertions, referee Sam Barrott had little option but to ask the bloodied Matthijs de Ligt to leave the pitch. They lost 3-0 to Tottenham but were trailing 1-0, and playing terribly, even before Bruno Fernandes got the red card that was eventually rescinded. Ten Hag had said on Thursday he tries to “deny” and “ignore” that result. It nevertheless stands.
And league tables have a validity, too. They can shift but the cliché is they don’t lie. A quarter of the way into the Premier League, United are 14th. After three-eighths of the Europa League group stage, they are 21st. They are not accustomed to being 12 places below Bodo/Glimt, one the wrong side of Viktoria Plzen. All of which may make United’s games against the Norwegian and Czech sides six-pointers. Which, in turn, is a further indication of how the mighty have fallen.
There are others. United have not won in Europe in a year. In all competitions, they have one victory in eight games. They are the third lowest scorers in the Premier League. They have only been ahead for 86 minutes in the division this season. Ten Hag retained his job after the six-hour meeting of the new United hierarchy during the international break. He often projects a defiant confidence about his own prospects. But a slow start to the season might not be deceptive. Seven points adrift of Aston Villa, six points behind Chelsea, United’s chances of Champions League qualification already feel remote. United have only spent a week of the last two months in the top half of the Premier League. There are mitigating circumstances, the endless injuries that left Ten Hag with a weakened bench at West Ham, the way De Ligt looks ill-fated, whether with the loss of a goal when his head wound meant he was not on the pitch last week to the concession of a penalty when he was in the penalty box this weekend.
“It is not about me,” Ten Hag said, when bemoaning his misfortune. “It is about the team.” It is, though, about him. United linger in a unique version of expensive, seemingly permanent transition. Some £600m has been spent in his reign. The latest batch of signings have not yet been transformative. De Ligt was unconvincing before he was unlucky, a disastrous double-header against Tottenham and Porto suggesting he struggled to defend in a high defensive line or against the crossed ball. Manuel Ugarte, shocking against Spurs, had his best game thus far against Fenerbahce and then went unused at West Ham when there is a case that the hosts’ second-half resurgence occurred in part because the ageing legs of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen tired. Joshua Zirkzee registered an assist for the Brazilian’s equaliser but has now gone 12 games without a goal. Leny Yoro is still yet to play. Pound for pound, the cheap Noussair Mazraoui has offered most value for money but the defining moment of his United career to date was being fielded as a No 10 in Turkey. Even by Ten Hag’s standards, it was a quixotic choice.
This is his team now, the starting 11 at the London Stadium staffed with seven of his signings. Yet Eriksen’s renaissance, like Jonny Evans’ man-of-the-match performance against Aston Villa, feels an indictment of others. Neither is an example of long-term planning. Meanwhile, Ten Hag’s rather younger forward line could have a considerable future but his team score too few goals, with just three in their last five league games. The manager is not responsible for every miss – and certainly not the open goal Diogo Dalot somehow contrived to squander at West Ham – but a lack of league goals has been a theme of Ten Hag’s tenure.
So, too, have away defeats. United have now lost more than they have won on the road in the top flight in his time in charge. Sunday started with United creating a host of chances that should have brought their best result of the season and ended with more unflattering facts. Amid misfortunate, mistakes and misses, United are still missing the step forward this season was supposed to provide.