PREMIER LEAGUE West Ham 2, United 0
This is on Erik ten Hag. Unlike David Moyes, he had a whole week to work with his squad. Unlike Moyes, he had his star player coming back fresh from ten days off. Unlike Moyes, he had a fair wind behind him after a heartening trip to Anfield. And he was still out-thought, outwitted, outmanaged. The tweak Moyes came up with in the middle of the second half made all the difference. When nine out of ten managers would have sent on fresh legs, Moyes simply replaced one false nine (Jarrod Bowen) with another (Lucas Paqueta). Back in his natural habitat on the right, Bowen ran through to latch onto Paqueta’s delicious chip, while United’s defenders stood and watched.
André Onana’s attempt to thwart Bowen was feeble, and Ten Hag coudn’t be blamed for that. But when Kobbie Mainoo slipped, gave the ball away and allowed Mohammad Kudus to make it 2-0, it was partly down to poor management. After an hour of his usual tidiness, Mainoo had just given the ball away twice. He was clearly tiring, and with good reason: he had been asked to play as a single pivot, something that – as Statman Dave pointed out on Twitter – no other big club in Europe does to experienced midfielders, let alone teenage ones. When Ten Hag finally resorted to the double pivot at Anfield, it worked a treat, with Mainoo and Sofyan Amrabat forming a solid partnership. It was a no-brainer working out what to do next: keep them in place, give Mainoo a bit more freedom, keep Scott McTominay in front of them, bring Bruno Fernandes back on the right – and make sure Antony was nowhere near the starting XI.
Ten Hag’s judgment in the transfer market is looking worse and worse. Rasmus Hojlund was a ghost again: he has repeatedly shown that he can score goals against continental defences, but not against English ones. And while everyone keeps saying he’s not getting much service, he’s not providing it either: in 22 games for United he has not a single assist. The best pass he has played all season came in the first few minutes, at Arsenal, when he sent Alejandro Garnacho through. Week after week, United’s best player tends to be either someone Ten Hag tried to offload (like Harry Maguire), or someone from the Academy (like Mainoo), or both (like McTominay). And the most damning example of all is Antony. Here he was playing against another team who had gone shopping at his and Ten Hag’s old club, Ajax, for a left-footed right-winger. Moyes signed Mohammed Kudus in August for around £35m. A year earlier, Ten Hag signed Antony for around £80m. You had only to watch this game to see that West Ham got twice the player for half the price.
Since they opened the first window on their advent calendar, United have been on a par with Sheffield United. Both clubs have played five league games this month; both have won one, drawn one and lost three; both have managed a plucky draw at a ground where nobody gave them a chance. By losing to Bournemouth and West Ham, United have all but torched their faint hopes of making the top four. They’re only being kept in the race for the top eight by the fact that Brighton have gone off the boil and Newcastle have been run into the ground. Yes, United have had injuries, but so have their closes rivals, and United have more strength in depth. Yet they've already lost 13 games this season, their worst record at Christmas since 1930. They never win away at the better teams. They never win in London, except at Craven Cottage. They often react to conceding a goal by conceding another. After making up ground on the leaders in November, they have thrown it all away in December.
Last season Ten Hag did well in three competitions out of four. This season he has done badly in three out of three. His methods just haven’t been working. He’s been too rigid, too stubborn, too wedded to his favourites, too slow to bring on subs (today he held Christian Eriksen back until the 85th minute), and far too inclined to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different result. The right manager makes a team greater than the sum of its parts; Ten Hag, since the League Cup final, has had the opposite effect. His team have no identity. Today they dominated possession, apparently unaware that that was just playing to West Ham’s strengths. They played high balls, apparently unaware that West Ham are good in the air (of United’s 19 crosses, only three reached their target). In the sack race at the bookies’, Ten Hag is now out in front. If there was anyone there to sack him – a permanent CEO, or a competent owner – he’d be gone. As it is, he may have to sack himself.
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Tim de Lisle, editor of United Writing and a sportswriter at The Guardian, has been a United fan since the days when they finished eighth three seasons in a row.