IF Manchester United could rattle up wins the way their new manager is collecting nicknames, they’d be back on top before they knew it.
One game in and he was Erik ten Months. Seven days and another defeat later, he’d become Erik ten Weeks.
So presumably if their hated rivals Liverpool leave them pointless after tomorrow’s Old Trafford meeting, he’ll be Erik ten Days.
For some — and it should be stressed it’s only a small minority — conclusions have already been drawn.
Namely that Ten Hag was the wrong choice all along. That United, whatever he’d done at Ajax, would simply be too big for him.
All absolute b******s, of course. For all the deadwood conning a living at Old Trafford right now, and there’s plenty of it, the manager ain’t part of it.
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But, you know what? Those who have decided the Dutchman’s stay will be very short-term might actually have a point. Only not the way they think.
Perhaps they’re viewing it from the wrong angle.
Perhaps they should look at it from Ten Hag’s side.
And perhaps he will soon be the one wondering ‘what’s the point in being here?’ The one thinking ‘this really isn’t what I was sold or told’.
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When Ten Hag arrived, it was with a reputation as one of Europe’s most innovative and sought-after young managers.
A perfectionist; a builder of dynasties; a man whose footballing ethos was the perfect match for a place which demanded not only success but that it came in style.
Shirkers would be shunted. It was his way or the highway. In short, the perfect choice to plan the Red revolution.
No figures were mentioned publicly but obviously he’d have been promised money to do it. He’d have been assured those above would back him to the hilt.
Only the reality hasn’t quite been like that. Hasn’t been anything like that, really. The fact United have become a transfer-window comedy show is proof.
Yes, they gave him the dough for Lisandro Martinez, who has got off to the sort of start which makes even Garry Birtles’ all those years ago look jet-propelled.
But that aside, the pursuit of Frenkie de Jong was embarrassing. If, indeed, he was genuinely top of Ten Hag’s wanted list… not the foregone conclusion you may think, by the way.
Then, when United finally accept he isn’t coming, Casemiro suddenly emerges as the holding midfielder to solve the crisis. And a deal is done in the blink of an eye.
Brilliant business or Real Madrid’s men in suits realising they’ve won the lottery yet again? And United have once more paid for the ticket.
The joke in Madrid is they don’t put the bins out at the Bernabeu but wait for someone at Old Trafford to collect them. While paying through the nose to do so.
Last year it was Raphael Varane. Before him Angel di Maria. Now it’s a 30-year-old Brazilian who Real were so keen to keep that Carlo Ancelotti announced he was off before the deal was done.
Was he a name Ten Hag had presented to Richard Arnold, John Murtough and the rest of the transfer “gurus” as a must-have?
Or was he presented the other way as a fait accompli? A ‘here’s what we’ve bought you Erik’ signing? There are certainly murmurs suggesting so.
Ten Hag may have been told he’d be masterminding a bright new dawn but he’s walked into mayhem. A club that can’t deliver on its promises.
There is little sympathy around for the manager. There rarely is. But we’ll certainly never know how good he is working with this failing squad.
So who could blame Ten Hag if he started thinking of how to save his own skin, before his own reputation goes the same way as so many United players’.
Because once that takes a hammering, it’s a hell of a long road back. Just ask David Moyes, the man who took over Sir Alex Ferguson’s sliding squad.
Can Ten Hag afford similar damage to his own standing? Does he really want to take that risk? It’s one thing cocking it up yourself but others doing it for you is totally different.
Dragging United back to the top was never going to be easy. But trying to do so with one hand tied behind your back turns a difficult job into an impossible one.
Clearly there’s no way Ten Hag will say ‘screw this for a game of soldiers’ just yet… but, unless things change, it might not be as far away as you’d think.
PLAYERS PLEASE, SAYS SKY
THERE are red faces aplenty at Sky right now — and it’s nothing to do with Graeme Souness.
A directive has gone out warning commentators and pundits they must now refer to the star performer as the player of the match.
In these days of everyone being offended by everything — Souness discovered how ridiculous that’s got last week — it’s all very righteous, of course.
But it would have made more sense if the broadcaster had made that decision BEFORE they’d already commissioned a load of trophies with man of the match on them!
The ludicrous over- reaction to Souey’s “it’s a man’s game” comment raised an interesting double standards argument, too, even within the organisation.
Like why the Women’s Super League isn’t just the Super League. And the same for the Women’s World Cup. There does seem to be a very flexible approach to many things.
And for two months anyone connected with golf was being asked for their thoughts on the LIV “mercenaries” taking the Saudi riyal.
Yet it all went quiet when a host of big shots headed to Jeddah for a PPV boxing match.
COP THAT, RONALDO
CONGRATULATIONS to Merseyside Police for their relentless pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He’s been issued with a caution after admitting knocking a phone from the hand of a young autistic Everton fan after Manchester United lost in April.
If only they had as much success finding anyone who invaded the Goodison pitch after the Crystal Palace game the following month.
Or the Liverpool fans who smashed up the Manchester City coach before their Champions League fixture at Anfield before that.
Mind you, it’s not as though they had TV pictures and photos plastered all over social media to help them is it? Oh, wait…
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SPURS scramble a point at Chelsea and it’s apparently all down to the never-say-die attitude instilled by Antonio Conte.
That wouldn’t have happened in the past, we were told.
I must have imagined that three-goal fightback against Ajax to reach the Champions League final. I’m sure Mauricio Pochettino didn’t.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
