The only time Manchester United have ever suffered through a lower-scoring start to a top-flight season, George Best and Denis Law were two of the club’s only goal-getters.
Erik ten Hag’s sequence of unwanted broken records extends to United’s worst start in Premier League history. The toothless Red Devils head into the second international break of the season slumped in 14th, already trailing Liverpool by a double-digit points tally.
Outside a transfer window, there is no opportunity to buy any more players familiar with the Eredivisie, but there are a few tweaks which could be made to avoid bolstering the long list of historic lowlights.
Ten Hag’s future has been a tedious talking point since he lost his second match in charge of the club to Brentford in humiliating fashion. The private whispers that the hierarchy are keen on keeping the Dutchman are competing for airtime with the rumours of Thomas Tuchel’s impending appointment.
Jonny Evans admitted that the vortex of uncertainty swirling around Ten Hag “does affect the players”, after he shut out the noise to keep a clean sheet against Aston Villa. Whatever decision INEOS make would be better than the deafening silence of continued uncertainty.
Ten Hag had two pictures of Johan Cruyff hanging up on the walls of his office at Ajax. “I apply Cruyff’s ideals in my current work,” the proud Dutchman has insisted – but the performance of his United team flies in the face of everything his compatriot preached.
Cruyff’s footballing philosophy can be boiled down to a pair of simple instructions: make the pitch as big as possible when you have the ball and as small as possible without it. Manchester United somehow conspire to do the exact opposite, offering yawning chasms of open green grass for the opposition to plough through when they mistakenly try to press and drop deep at the same time.
These widening holes appear in midfield – which is why Kobbie Mainoo ages like a president after every 90 minutes spent frantically charging around – but are a consequence of the forwards and defensive rearguard not working in unison. While the frontline halfheartedly presses, a defence not blessed with pace creeps deeper and deeper, stretching the height of the team like an accordion at full expansion.
United are almost more vulnerable when they have the ball, helplessly exposed as soon as the opposition force a turnover anywhere inside their own half. All three of Liverpool’s goals in September’s walkover came from cheap giveaways, while Twente’s Bart van Rooij and Tottenham Hotspur’s Micky van de Ven were both able to surge through United’s soft centre swiftly after possession was lost.
“We want to be the best transition team in the world,” Ten Hag dramatically declared during the summer of 2023. “We want to surprise. We want to play dynamic, we want to play with speed, we want to play aggressive, out of a very good team spirit, because that is United.”
The Dutchman’s charges duly delivered during the 2023/24 campaign, becoming the only Premier League club to launch more than 100 direct attacks last season. Almost one-quarter of United’s big chances came via this avenue.
This term, only three clubs have attempted fewer shots following fast breaks as United are still waiting for a first goal from this type of profitable attack.
The newly central role of United’s full-backs – partially dictated by the profile of Noussair Mazraoui and playing right-footed Diogo Dalot on the left – has contributed to United’s blunted edge. Luke Shaw’s complete recovery cannot come soon enough, but shifting Dalot onto his natural flank may also help.
Bruno Fernandes was shown red cards in consecutive appearances but has far bigger problems than his disciplinary record. The club captain has created just six Premier League chances across the first seven games this season – half of which came on the second weekend of the campaign in a defeat to Brighton. A hulking mass of 68 Premier League players have been more effective in the final third than United’s creator-in-chief, including his former teammate Aaron Wan-Bissaka, per FBref.
After averaging more than three key passes per game across the previous two campaigns, Fernandes has sunk to a pitiful ratio of 0.9. The last time Fernandes averaged less than one chance created per game was almost a decade ago, during his second season at Udinese in 2014/15.
United have been dangerously reliant on Fernandes’ creative powers since his arrival at the start of 2020. In a way, it’s remarkable that they are only now suffering the painful consequences of his diminishing form. Winless Crystal Palace have taken more shots than the Red Devils and only relegation-fodder in the form of Southampton can point to fewer goals than Ten Hag’s wayward charges this term.
Since the start of last summer, Fernandes has racked up 75 appearances for club and country, missing just six possible matches. The Portuguese international is on the move again this month with trips to Poland and Scotland. Surely he’s due some respite from shouldering the burden of United’s entire attacking output.
