The game plan was all over the place
After owning up to mismanaging the final act at Palace, Ten Hag did it again
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Arsenal 3, United 2
Erik ten Hag, who has achieved so much so fast, has earned the right to have a shocker. And that’s what he did in this game. On Wednesday, at Selhurst Park, he was big enough to admit that United hadn’t been brave enough as they allowed their dominance to fizzle out into a draw. ‘I look in the mirror,’ he said afterwards. ‘I look to my team, I look to my managing and coaching and then I say “invest more for the second goal”.’ Well preached, Erik – but did he practise it today? When he glanced in that mirror, he seems to have been looking through a glass darkly. United just weren’t brave enough: as Luke Shaw observed with his usual candour, ‘we were too passive’. They invited Arsenal to besiege their goal and the invitation was gratefully accepted. They dropped so deep in the last half-hour, as they struggled to hang onto the draw, that Arsenal ended up having 63 touches in the box. That’s more than any team in any other Premier League game this season – more even than Man City against Bournemouth, for heaven’s sake.
You felt for Ten Hag, not having Casemiro, the component that makes the most difference in this team. (Or two other first choices, Diogo Dalot and Anthony Martial.) But United’s game plan was all over the place. They were both too defensive – giving Arsenal the freedom of the very area they like best, in attacking midfield – and not defensive enough, with no Fred to break up those attacks until the 71st minute. Antony was so ineffectual on the right, so slow and sloppy and self-absorbed, that United might as well have been playing with ten men. Ten Hag did eventually replace him, about 25 minutes too late, but then he didn’t make another change until added time, even though United were knackered after playing in midweek while Arsenal had put their feet up. Alejandro Garnacho, such an exciting impact sub, was only sent on in the 92nd minute. It should surely have been Facundo Pellistri coming on then, and Garnacho 20 minutes earlier. And if United had given more minutes to Charlie McNeill, they might have had a young centre-forward of their own to do an Eddie Nketiah.
Still, there was plenty of good news. United pushed the league leaders all the way. They played their part in a memorable game. They showed grit and determination. They almost filled the gaping hole left by Casemiro. They took the lead with a goal that was all skill – from Marcus Rashford, who destroyed Thomas Partey with a nutmeg before beating Aaron Ramsdale with a lethal strike. And after conceding two, they found an equaliser that was all spirit – from Lisandro Martinez, seizing on a shaky punch from Ramsdale and hurling his bandaged head at the ball. Ten Hag was right about him.
Nine days ago, some United fans might have settled for four points from these past three games. I thought it might be only three points and they would all come against Palace. A derby win was much better, both for obvious reasons and because it inflicted a defeat on a neighbour in the table. The draw at Selhurst Park, as disappointments go, was not terrible. But the frustrating thing is that Ten Hag, having identified his own mistake, immediately repeated it, and his team conceded two late goals in four days that cost three points between them.
United’s title hopes, which only turned up last weekend, have now left the building. It’s a two-horse race unless both Arsenal and City fall at several fences in a row, which seems too much to ask. United’s best players badly need a breather and they should get one as the next three games are in the cups – a two-leg semi-final against Forest in the Carabao, forming a club sandwich with the visit of Reading in the FA Cup. After that, United can concentrate on finishing in the top four, starting with … another game against Palace. They’re still having a pretty good season. As Sam Pilger pointed out this evening, Arsenal are three years into their rebuild under Mikel Arteta, whereas United are only six months into theirs under Ten Hag. But he does need to have another look in that mirror.
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian and music for The Mail on Sunday. If you’re still on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.