By Daniel Ojukwu
Under coach Erik Ten Hag, Manchester United FC of England is now fast being labeled as sleeping giants rather than English football giants which the club was known for under its legendary Scottish coach, Sir Alex Ferguson. Their story this season is not scintillating in the ears of their teeming supporters in England and worldwide.
Their opening ten games of the season tell the whole story. Their away games are nothing to write home about, even their home turf, Old Trafford called Theatre of Dreams, has become Theatre of Nightmare for both players and club management, club fans in England and all over the globe.
Six defeats in the opening 10 games of the season have thrown the club into turmoil after their worst start since Alex Ferguson took over from Ron Atkinson 37 years ago.
The rot in the team is mind boggling to their fans and it is therefore not a surprise there are deluge of boos from the terraces both home and away matches of the club this season. The players have lost confidence in themselves and Ten Hag, former Ajax of Holland coach, needs to do something urgent to stem the tide of rots before it gets out of control.
At the moment, this is the worst start of the team in the Premier League era, just as it also open a Champions’ League group campaign with back-to-back defeats for the first time.
So, the questions now are how has the club come to this? How has the ship of the club the under Ten Hag is not longer on smooth sail and has drifted so catastrophically under his guidance?
The answers to these posers are not far-fetched.
Injury crisis
To say the fact, Injuries have been the bane of the club of late and this development is not palatable at all. This crippling crisis has a big impact in the club performances.
At the moment16 players have been out of action at any point since pre-season. That includes new signings Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Sofyan Amrabat and Sergio Reguilon.
The team backline is the worst hit with Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Tyrell Malacia lost to long-term injuries. Raphael Varane has also been sidelined with injury too.
The absence of Shaw, Malacia and Reguilon indicates that midfielder Amrabat has had to play out of position at left-back, and he has struggled in the matches he has played so far.
Imbalance in defence , attack
It also a statement of fact there is imbalance of the team in both the backline and in the attack. No team outside the top-12 have scored fewer than United’s seven Premier League goals this season, while the 18 shipped in the first 10 games is the most since 1966. This development is very fundamental and points negatively while team the team is not sailing smoothly under coach Ten Hag
For example, in Saturday’s defeat to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, United gave up very few chances but couldn’t create them. When they lost to Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday, the imbalance in the surfaced for everybody to see.
Recall Hojlund scored twice and could have had a hat-trick, Mount had two close-range efforts blocked before half-time and Marcus Rashford inexplicably blind to play Bruno Fernandes in when the United skipper had an open goal in the second half.
Keeper’s problem
The goal keeping department is questionable. Ten Hag ditched David Gea in the summer and signed his former Ajax keeper, Andre Onana for £47.2million. The new goalkeeper has not live up to expectation. The Cameroonian born goalkeeper should be held responsible for letting the club down in the matches when he is in between the sticks .For example, one of those goals – Leroy Sane scored for Bayern Munich in the Champions League – Onana has yet to justify Ten Hag’s faith in him .
Onana was signed for such big amount to improve United distribution from the back line, but the lack of confidence among the 27-year-old keeper and his defenders means that United have cultivated the culture of knocking the ball long.
When Onana did try to go short against Galatasaray, it ended in catastrophe as his weak pass to Casemiro was hijacked and the Brazilian conceded a penalty and was sent off for a second yellow card.
To be fare to Onana, he has suffered through not playing behind a settled back-four with Martinez, Varane and Shaw sorely missed. Even when Martinez was back at the defence, he was battling with a recurrence of a foot injury that has now keep away from matches for up to three months.
Six major reasons have been responsible for the dwindling fortune of the club on the field of play.
Of –the -field Distractions
Aside all the problems raised above, the Old Trafford team have also been battling of field issues concerning Antony and Jadon Sancho for parts of the season.
Antony was away from the club for three weeks on fully-paid leave after he faced allegations, which he strongly denies, from three women that he attacked them.
The player resumed training on Saturday and returned to action as a late substitute in the Galatasaray defeat. But the problems have not gone away and his ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin is due to speak to Greater Manchester Police on Thursday(today).
Sancho, meanwhile, has been training on his own more than a month now after Ten Hag banished the player from the first-team squad for publicly questioning his reasons for dropping the player against Arsenal.
Sancho has refused to tender apology to his club manager, and it is looking crystal clear England international will leave the club in January.
Both issues have had an impact on team morale, with the players noticing that much of the unity built up in Ten Hag’s first season has been lost.
Falling behind after leading, failure roar back to life after going behind
This is in fact a mentality problem that the team guilty of this new season. The team find it extremely difficult to hold onto a lead when they are ahead and fall apart like pack of cards when they go behind.
United conceded a minute after going ahead at Arsenal, four minutes after reducing the deficit at Bayern Munich, and twice surrendered the lead against Galatasaray.
The exception to the rule is the comeback from two goals down against Nottingham Forest, but all three of United’s Premier League wins this season – Wolves, Forest and Burnley – have been unconvincing.
The vulnerability of the team is seen clearly by football followers unlike last season when they recovered from a poor start to finish third in the Premier League table and win the Carabao Cup.
Rushford’s drop of form
The England man was unstoppable in Ten Hag’s first campaign, top scoring with 30 goals. Based on this, he inked a new £300,000-a-week contract in the summer. But presently, he has stooped scoring because of drop in form
If one player sums up the drop-off at United this season it’s Marcus Rashford. The England man was unstoppable in Ten Hag’s first campaign, top scoring with 30 goals.
This season he struggling to fine the right rhythm with his new partner in the person of Hojlund, although he set up the Dane’s opener against Galatasaray.
Aside this, Rashford has been lambasted for being too greedy or taking the wrong option, and that was truly manifested in the match against Turkish giants.
Example, Rashford had the choice to shoot or present Fernandes with an open goal. Rashford was caught in two minds, squaring a weak pass to Fernandes that allowed Sacha Boey to get back and clear.
United need Rashford to be scoring like last season if they are to be regarded as a team to be reckon with in both domestic and European campaigns . Will the tide change for good of Manchester Unite? Time will definitely provides answer to this.