Ten Hag makes his case as Man United’s worst modern manager

NOTTINGHAM, England — It's never a good thing for a Manchester United manager to be compared to David Moyes, but Erik ten Hag is now posting more alarming statistics than the man widely considered the worst manager of the era post-Sir Alex Ferguson at the time. Old Trafford.

United's 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday – United's 14th defeat in all competitions this season – followed the same rinse-and-repeat pattern of many of their collapses. First concede, equalize, then ruin the match with amateur defense. Add to that some dismal individual performances and confusing tactics and you have the story of Ten Hag's season so far.

It was chaotic as usual, but chaos doesn't lend itself to success too often. If anything, it usually leads to failure, and Ten Hag's second season is starting to resemble Moyes' only campaign as United manager, when he was fired just ten months after replacing Ferguson in May 2013 .

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The problem for Ten Hag is that his side are now performing worse than Moyes' side after 20 games of the 2013-14 season.

Moyes' side were seventh after 20 games, with 34 points from 20 games, having scored 33 goals and conceded 24. Fast forward and now Ten Hag's United are also seventh, with just 31 points from 20 games. With 22 goals scored and 27 conceded, Ten Hag's team scores less and concedes more than the team that cost Moyes his job.

Moyes has never been convincing when trying to explain his poor results and performances, and Ten Hag falls into a similar trap.

“Whenever you have to swap (players), the routines are not there and top-level football happens quickly, so you need communication in the moments in between,” Ten Hag said when asked why his team made recurring mistakes. We went for the win and there was a counter-attack where we probably didn't defend very well as a team, but what I saw in the second half was a team going for the win. victory and that's what we missed in the first. I saw some good football in the second half.”

Ten Hag has new bosses since INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquired a 25% stake in the club, and INEOS director of sport Dave Brailsford was watching from the directors' box alongside by Ferguson, the legendary former Man United manager. Although Ten Hag insists that INEOS wants to work with him, the sound of the clock during Ten Hag's reign grew louder each time the camera cut from Brailsford to Ten Hag looking forlorn on the sideline.

It was a similar story with Moyes before his sacking. At the time, the camera showed a frustrated Ferguson before cutting straight to the struggling manager, looking more and more haunted with each defeat.

One can only imagine what Ferguson was whispering in Brailsford's ear during that defeat at Forest, although it's a safe bet he wouldn't over-compliment the performance of Antony, the £85m winger from United who hasn't scored a goal. or attend all season.

The Brazilian international was substituted in the 54th minute amid cries of “What a waste of money!” of Forest fans, but the former Ajax winger's lack of impact in a United shirt is becoming a major problem for Ten Hag simply because the former Ajax manager pushed the club to sign him 18 months ago.

“He is so frustrating,” former United captain Gary Neville told Sky Sports. “I blame the football club. It's not the boy's fault that he was bought for that money. There has to be a 'no' when he gets to that level. If I looked at him at 25 million pounds sterling, we would see differently.”

Pursuing Antony was an error in judgment on Ten Hag's part, but he repeats it every time he selects him in his starting lineup. The player is simply not good enough for a club aiming to challenge at the top of the Premier League, so Ten Hag's inability to accept that won't help his cause with his new bosses – Brailsford will be part of 'a three-person football board with co-owners Joel Glazer and Ratcliffe once INEOS' investment is ratified by the Premier League in the coming weeks.

There are of course extenuating circumstances that Ten Hag faces. United's injury list has been long all season and striker Rasmus Hojlund, who finally scored his first Premier League goal for the club in Tuesday's 3-2 win over Aston Villa, missed the match against Forest due to illness.

But all managers have to overcome injury and illness issues – they are a reality in elite sport – and those Ten Hag should compete with are doing a better job at the moment.

When asked to identify United's biggest problem, Ten Hag was blunt: “Injuries,” he replied. “There are also some problems, but mainly injuries, which slow us down in the process. In January, a lot of players come back so our levels can be higher.

“We've had nine different partnerships in defense. It doesn't matter either, the fans don't want to hear that, they want to see us win and that's what we have to serve them.”

The upside of this match was that Marcus Rashford scored from open play for the first time since September. Alejandro Garnacho also showed himself to be a star of the future again. But with Nicolás Domínguez and Morgan Gibbs-White scoring either side of Rashford's goal for Forest, the points went to Nottingham Forest, leaving Ten Hag with more negative statistics.

Under Ten Hag, Man United have now lost 14 games this season with 18 more games to play – Moyes has only lost 16 in a full season at United. Meanwhile, United's 21 defeats in 2023 in all competitions are the club's worst since 1972 and the fourth worst record in its history. This team has also lost the same number of games – nine – as they suffered in the Premier League throughout last season. Nottingham Forest, for their part, beat Man United for the first time since 1994.

The crisis therefore returns. Next up is an FA Cup third round tie at Wigan Athletic, who sit 18th in EFL League One. Ten Hag just can't contemplate losing this one.